Crimson Stained
by ShadowBloodNinja
Summary: She was cocky, friendly and energetic although she had no friends. As she grew and made friends she thought she would be ok. But death just seemed to follow her. Follow Nikushimi as she grows up, learns to love, learns the way of the shinobi, and watch as she tries to fight against fate and destiny "My dream is to protect all those i care for no matter the cost!"-Nikushimi
1. When the World Stood Still

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 1_

_The Moment the World Stood Still_

**_Summary_**_**-**She was cocky, friendly, and cheerful until everything happened. She thought that when she finally found those who she cared for she would be ok. She was wrong because death just seemed to follow her. Who knew that in the future, everything would change."My dream, no my goal, is to protect those I care for, no matter the cost!"-Nikushimi_

* * *

Kakashi supposed that bringing his students to his apartment, for even the slightest moment, wasn't a good idea. Then, they just had to snoop in his things as he grabbed what he needed.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, who's this?" Kakashi sighed as he realized his students had found his pictures. He didn't have many however he had a few. His students were looking at the three pictures he had on his night table next to his bed. He peered over Naruto to see he was pointing to the middle picture.

The picture on the left was the one of his Genin team. Rin and Obito looked happy while Minato smiled at the camera. Kakashi was brooding.

The picture on the right was of his current team. Naruto was smiling and Sasuke was brooding, Kakashi had a hand on each of their heads as Sakura smiled at the camera.

However Kakashi took in the center picture. He picked it up and smiled at it from under his mask. He placed it face down on the table as memories swarmed him.

"She's an old friend of mine. Let's get back to training." Kakashi led his students out. However Naruto and Sakura both wanted to know more about the picture, and they'd be damned if they didn't find out soon enough.

Throughout their training Kakashi's head was in the clouds. He couldn't get his mind off of the girl in the picture. Memories flashed through his head. Her smile. Her cocky attitude. Her relationship with him, with Obito, with her team, with Rin.

Kakashi looked over to Naruto and remembered the first picture he had seen of Naruto from the Hokage before he became his student. He had been wearing green goggles on his forehead.

'Like Obito, and her….' Kakashi looked up at the sky. Kakashi felt himself blinking back tears, something he hadn't done in years since she had left.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei! Let's go get ramen!" Kakashi wordlessly nodded and followed his team. But his head was in the clouds because all he could think of was her.

_^Seventeen years before ^_

Minato was not happy. His two male students, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Obito were arguing. Again. But that wasn't the problem; the problem was they weren't watching where they were going. And that always caused trouble. Their usually victim was Ms Yui, an older spitfire of a woman who carried around a cane. That she used as a weapon against careless people who ran into her.

"Obito, stop yelling at Kakashi! You know he's right, and Kakashi! Stop antagonizing Obito!" Minato smiled at his peace keeper of the group, Nohara Rin.

"But Rin, he started it!" whined Obito, turning his attention to Rin.

"I'm right Obito." Kakashi stated calmly. Obito glared at Kakashi and was about to retaliate.

"Hey watch it!"

The two tall boys felt something hit into them and they turned to watch a smaller girl, looking to be around the age of eight, fall to the ground. Minato's worry of them hitting Ms Yui was avoided, however now he was afraid that the little girl would start crying and her mother would come out and yell at them.

"Oh sorry little girl!" apologized Obito, kneeling down. The girls face, of what could be seen because dark black bangs with crimson and silver streaks covered the entire top part from just above her nose up, turned red.

"Little girl!?" seethed the girl as she stood up. Obito continued to kneel down, although he stood once he felt the intensity of her glower on him.

"Little girl? I am not little!" she shouted, stomping her foot, "I'll have you know that I am eleven!" Obito was blown away.

"But you're so….small!" he exclaimed. The girl almost growled.

"Shut up! I am not small! I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet! When I do watch out!" she screeched, stomping her foot again and pointing at Obito. Rin pulled Obito back and gave her a sheepish smile.

"I'm very sorry for my teammate's ignorance…."trailed Rin, shooting Obito a glare.

"Humph! And watch where you're going too, you could have ripped my bandages! It takes me forever to redo them when they get ripped for stupid things such as this!" she snapped, gesturing to the bandages that covered her arm. Their eyes followed her body. Every area her skin wasn't covered by clothes was covered by bandages, her legs under her shorts, her arms, her neck, her shoulders, not a single piece of skin showed with the exception of her face. A scar could be seen coming from under her bangs, then it disappeared under the bandages around her neck. No one noticed it except Minato, who was really studying the girl.

"Just chill already." complained Obito. Rin sighed as she saw the girls slowly cooling anger return.

"I will not!" she yelled. Rin sighed.

"What's your name anyway? From your kunai pouch and clothes I would think you're a Shinobi, I've never seen you around." inquired Rin. The girl smirked.

"I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi!" She gave them all a big grin showing slightly sharp teeth, "And don't you forget it!" Obito grinned at her enthusiasm.

"I'm Uchiha Obito!" he replied, stepping forward.

"I'm Nohara Rin, and this is our teammate, Hatake Kakashi. He doesn't talk much." Rin gestured to Kakashi who had his arms crossed and was looking away.

"I'm their sensei, Namikaze Minato." greeted Minato. His eyes trailed over her though.

'Where have I heard that name? Ketsueki…Ketsueki…' wondered Minato.

"Well this was great and all but I have somewhere I have to be! So bye!" Nikushimi rushed around them and took off down the street leaving the ninja curious.

"Huh, she's a bit weird." decided Obito as he started forward, not paying attention. He only made it a few steps though before Minato's eyes widened.

"Wait, Obito!"

Too late.

"Huh, oh!"

A thump.

"You little brat!"

"I'm very sorry Ms Yui!"

Minato sighed. Only Obito would manage to do that.

_**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o 0o0o0o0o0o0-TIME SKIP-o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**_

Thwack!

Obito stopped at the noise. It had been going on for awhile and he was getting curious.

Thump!

Now Rin stopped, also getting curious.

Thwack!

Kakashi and Minato stopped their sparring now at the noise.

"What is that?" questioned Rin.

Thump!

"Let's go see!" said Obito excitedly.

"It's probably nothing." replied Kakashi, turning back to Minato.

"Or it could be some bad guys trying to invade!" Obito took off at that prospect. Rin went after him yelling for him to stop and come back. Minato sighed and he went after them too, Kakashi following him.

Thwack!

They came upon a clearing and they stood and watched the clearings inhabitant. They watched as she collected kunai and shuriken from targets before stalking to the middle of thee clearing. She took a deep breath before she started throwing the kunai and shuriken again. Obito was fascinated.

"Wow Nikushimi, you're good!" he called once she was done and he noticed she had hit each target almost exactly in the middle. Nikushimi looked over, startled when she heard them.

"Oh it's you guys!" she started collecting the shuriken and kunai again as they walked into the clearing.

"That was pretty good! It's hard to hit this many targets in the center, especially at the speed you were at." praised Obito. Nikushimi grinned at him.

"Thanks but the real challenge," she replied, going through two worn looking bags strapped to each of her thighs. She pulled out Senbon from each and held them between her fingers, "Is using my senbon."

"You can't possibly hit all the targets in the center with those," Obito denied, "Impossible!"

"You wanna bet?" challenged Nikushimi.

"You bet I do! I bet that you can't hit all the targets with the senbon." bet Obito. Nikushimi frowned.

"That's not a fair bet since you don't know my abilities, how about you have to try and hit the targets too? So the bet is that I bet that I can hit the boards and you can't while you bet that you can hit the boards and that I can't. The loser has to treat the winner to lunch, deal?" suggested Nikushimi. Obito nodded.

"Deal." He held out his hand. Nikushimi shook it and stalked out to the center while the others in the clearing relocated to the edge of the clearing on a rock. Nikushimi got in a ready stance.

'And…go!' thought Nikushimi.

Nikushimi's moves were graceful. She didn't make a single unnecessary step and it seemed like she was dancing. The senbon flew from her hands, straight and powerful. Obito watched, entranced by her movements. Rin's eyes widened, Nikushimi's moves were beautiful, if not for the senbon flying from her fingers into the targets Rin would have thought Nikushimi was really dancing!

'Right, left, up, right, left, down, turn, right, left, down, right, left, up, up, right, left, finish!' Nikushimi counted every step, every movement in her head as she moved

Nikushimi ended with her knees bent and her arms out, no needles left. Minato, Rin, Kakashi and Obito's eyes scoured the clearing looking for any empty targets. A few targets were a little shaky with the senbon a little off the center, but for the most part they were mainly in the center.

'That was impressive, especially for someone so young….is she a Genin?' wondered Minato as Obito's eyes widened.

'Crap, now I have to go up if I want to even make it a tie!' Obito slowly moved to where Nikushimi was taking out senbon for him, 'And I don't even know how to use senbon! Me and my big mouth…'

"Here, you can back out now if you want, Uchiha." taunted Nikushimi. Obito grit his teeth.

"No way, I'll show you!"

'I'm so screwed….'

Obito tried his best to hold the senbon like Nikushimi; however he found that it was not easy in the slightest. The senbon refused to stay straight for him and they would slip from btween his fingers.

"C'mon, we're waiting!" called Nikushimi from her spot sitting crisscross on the rock next to Rin who was swinging her legs back and forth, waiting for Obito.

"Oh, I'm going!"

'Here we go, don't mess up!'

Obito's movements were clumsy. He took too many steps and he wasn't graceful in the slightest. His senbon flew shakily and strayed from their set path. The ones that did hit the targets sometimes fell off because they weren't thrown hard enough or didn't enter the board properly. When he was finished he looked at the results and groaned.

He barely hit half the boards, and the ones that did hit were either on the very far outer rim. One senbon was somewhat near the center, but it was quite obvious that it happened out of pure look.

"Hey Obito!" Obito looked to Nikushimi and found her smirking at him, "Looks like you're getting me lunch!" Obito frowned and looked to his team.

"Hey Rin, want to come?" Rin giggled, knowing he was trying to get someone else to pay.

"Sorry Obito, I have a shift at the hospital and you know Kaede-sensei. Bye." Rin waved and took off in a jog through the trees. Obito looked to where Minato had been sitting but found the spot empty. Next he turned to Kakashi who gave him a dead look.

"No." And then Kakashi just walked away. Obito sighed and looked to Nikushimi who had run around collecting all her kunai, shuriken, and senbon that had been discarded on the ground.

"Let's go, I'm starving!" Nikushimi grinned at him cheekily.

Obito led Nikushimi through the village insisting he knew a great place to eat. When they arrived they found themselves at a quaint little café. They slid into a booth and ordered.

"So Nikushimi, how'd you get to be so good at using senbon?" asked Obito curiously. Nikushimi chuckled.

"In my clan before you can even think about using your Kekkei-Genkai you have to learn to use senbon first." replied Nikushimi as the waitress brought their food. Nikushimi grinned and took a large forkful of her cake and shoved it into her mouth. She devoured her cake quickly.

"Geez, you act like you've never eaten before." teased Obito. Nikushimi paused mid bite.

"I usually skip breakfast except for maybe a small ration bar, and I go without lunch and I get a somewhat small dinner later." Obito gave her an incredulous look to which she shrugged at.

"You need a healthy three meal diet as a Shinobi Nikushimi!" exclaimed Obito. Nikushimi gave him another shrug.

"Well, it's how I get by." she replied as she took another bite of her cake. Obito blinked upon realizing something.

"That's why you were so eager to make that bet on lunch! Because you never get any!" realized Obito, he was proud he made that deduction. Nikushimi swallowed her mouthful of cake before replying.

"You're right, I usually train all day." She took another bite right after finishing her sentence. Obito got a brilliant idea next.

"Hey Nikushimi, want to make another bet?" he asked. She smirked as she swallowed.

"Is this one as easy as the last?" she asked.

"No, I bet that if you train me I can learn to use senbon!" exclaimed Obito. Nikushimi blinked.

"What makes you think I'd train you?" questioned Nikushimi. Obit frowned.

"Because if you win the bet I have to do whatever you say for a week! And if I win, you have to do whatever I say for a week!" Nikushimi weighed her options.

'Hm, I suppose Obito looked really clumsy, I don't think he'll pick it up very fast…'

"Ok, so how about we go until the end of February? I doubt you'll pick it up fast, its September now, so it'll probably work." Nikushimi nodded her head to her plan.

"Alright, deal, shake on it?" Obito held out his hand. Nikushimi shook his hand.

"Deal."

And in that moment, it seemed like the world stood still just to watch the beginning of their friendship.

* * *

**AN**

**So, first chapter to Crimson Stained. This idea is completely planned out, and I think it will be pretty good compared to some of my other stories. It's supposed to be pretty long too.**

**So tell me what you think so far, do you like Nikushimi? Is Team Minato out of character?**

**Tell me your thoughts.**

**Sayonara**


	2. Friend

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 2_

_Friend_

* * *

The sun was just coming up and the air was cool. Nikushimi stood in her summer clothes waiting at the training grounds. She kept glancing at the sun, using it to tell time.

"I've been waiting here forever." she muttered to herself as she leaned against the tree. She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited. Eventually he showed.

"Hey, sorry I'm late Nikushimi!" called Obito as he rushed over to where she leaned against the tree. Nikushimi studied him. His eyes were half closed, his clothes were ruffled, and his steps were sluggish.

"Tell me, Obito," Nikushimi's mouth pressed into a firm line to keep her chuckles to herself, "Why is it that the supposed nine year old is more awake than the oh so great Uchiha Obito." Obito frowned and was going to respond, however a loud yawn escaped his mouth instead.

"Sorry." he mumbled as he pulled up his goggles and rubbed his eyes to try and wake himself up. Nikushimi watched with an unimpressed look as he tried to wake himself up and she smirked when his stomach growled. His face earned a light pink tint at that moment.

"You're not going to make much progress like this, are you?" asked Nikushimi as she stalked away from the tree towards the training grounds exit.

"H-hey, where are you going?" questioned Obito as he rushed to keep up with her. She turned and began walking backwards.

"It's obvious that you're too tired and hungry to do anything," Nikushimi wagged her finger at him in mock disappointment, "So we're going to go get some breakfast." She turned around to face frontwards once more and she stalked off. Obito ran after her.

They made their way down the streets. Not many shoppers were out yet, however there were a few early risers out to buy things before the crowds. Other shops were just setting up and opening their stalls.

"So Nikushimi, I'm curious, why exactly do you train with your senbon so much?" asked Obito as they made their way to the café they had visited the day they made the bet.

"My Kekkei-Genkai requires two things before you can learn to actually use it, one you need to learn about the body. I can name pretty much everything in your body with some exceptions. The other thing you need is precision, my Kekkei-Genkai requires you to be precise and in control, if you do that then you can use blunt force after the part requiring precision and control is over." explained Nikushimi as they arrived at the café. They moved to get a table in the corner.

"What happens if you don't meet those two goals?" questioned Obito.

"Well, it matters if you have unlocked the ability too; usually it takes more training with an experienced clan member to unlock the ability in the first place. However if you unlock it before you do meet those two goals and you try to use it, the most common effect is death." replied Nikushimi as the waitress moved over to them.

"Two coffees and two donuts." ordered Nikushimi for her and Obito. The waitress nodded and moved away.

"Coffee?" Obito raised an eyebrow. Nikushimi shrugged.

"It'll wake you up for training." she answered casually.

"So, death? I suppose if the consequences were death then I would train my ass off too." Obito nodded as he thought about it.

"Exactly, now, here comes our food." Nikushimi reached for her coffee and immediately poured some of the milk in it, then she poured a ton of sugar. Obito watched as she mixed it and the coffee turned a light tan color.

"Does that still even taste like coffee?" asked Obito in disbelief as he watched Nikushimi add a fifth packet of sugar. Nikushimi mixed it before taking a sip.

"Nope." she replied cheerfully, popping the p before taking another sip from her coffee. Obito merely shook his head as he took a bite form his donut.

"So you said you have a Kekkei-Genkai, what is it?" inquired Obito as he sipped some of his coffee before making a face at it. He wasn't a big coffee person.

"Mm, I can't tell you, but I guess I can give a few hints. I can control something. However that something is very dangerous if you can control it, and if you can't do it properly it affects your body. It actually affects your body even if you do use it correctly. My Kekkei-Genkai is very dangerous." explained Nikushimi, when she finished she took another large bite from her donut.

"Hm, well, poison is dangerous. Can you… shoot poison from your mouth or something?" asked Obito. Nikushimi snorted.

"No, although that would be pretty cool if I could. Sadly, I cannot control poison. However I'm very resilient against poisons. Most drugs take double to work on me, and their effects are numbed." replied Nikushimi as she sipped her coffee. Obito gave it a distasteful glance before giving the same look to his half empty cup.

"Then can you shoot….huh, um, lava? Or…. um….melted metal?" questioned Obito as he took a bite of his donut.

"Nope, although that would be awesome." denied Nikushimi as she finished off her donut. She thought about Obito's ideas, she laughed upon thinking of shooting liquid metal.

"Well, I can't think of anything else." Obito shrugged as he finished off his donut and coffee, then he raised an eyebrow at Nikushimi, "Why are you laughing?"

"Imagine me shooting liquid metal from my mouth, one, that would be very hot, and two, I'm quite curious how that would help me." Nikushimi replied.

"Well liquid metal would be very hot! And…. if you can shoot it out why not control it? So you could like, control weapons and stuff!" defended Obito. Nikushimi pondered it.

"Fine, fine, I see your point," Nikushimi admitted as she took a small sip of her coffee before looking out the window. The sun was up more and she figured it to be around eight in the morning.

"So ready for training?" asked Nikushimi deciding that they had wasted enough time in the café as she chugged the rest of her coffee and tossed it into the garbage. Obito dumped his cup as they passed by it.

"Yeah." he nodded with a determined look.

They reached the training grounds and Nikushimi led him over to where a small log was set up.

"Alright, first we need to work on balance; you need balance if you want to work with senbon. You also need to be precise, so we need to work on your aim and accuracy. You need to learn how to hold a senbon properly, and then you need to learn how to actually throw a senbon. And finally, you need timing, you can't throw the senbon too early or else it slips. And if you plan on actually using senbon in battle, you'll have to learn vital arteries, veins, and basic anatomy." lectured Nikushimi. She turned to the log.

"This log is six by six inches," she jumped up onto it and held her right leg with her arm to her back. She stood on her toes and she was perfectly still, not moving an inch, "As you can see I can stand here perfectly fine."

'Oh no, she doesn't want me to-' Obito's thoughts were interrupted by Nikushimi.

"To work on your balance you need to be able to stand on this log, on one foot, without falling or moving a muscle, just like I am." Nikushimi gave Obito a grin.

"B-but," Obito sputtered, "I'm not flexible enough to pull my leg up that far!" Nikushimi had pulled her leg up and her foot was now almost to her shoulder.

"I don't expect you to; I'm flexible enough to do this. You're a guy so you can't. Just get up here and balance." Nikushimi jumped off after she said that and she gestured for him to get up. Obito jumped up and held his right leg up with his hand.

"Heh, this is-" Obito spoke too soon because in the next few seconds, he fell off. He gave the square log an incredulous look.

"What the hell?" he asked, "Balancing should be easy! And look at how big the log is!" Obito ranted for a few more minutes about how it was going to be impossible. Then, it dawned on him.

"You used chakra to stay up!" he accused, pointing at Nikushimi. Nikushimi's jovial mood turned slightly sour.

"No, I didn't." she stated flatly.

"You couldn't have possibly-" Nikushimi stalked up to Obito, cutting him off as he picked him up by his jacket. he was quite heavy, but her anger made her ignore this fact.

"I did not keep myself up there using chakra, want to know why?" she hissed. Obito nodded slightly.

"Because I can't use chakra!" she muttered crossly as she dropped Obito who looked awe struck. Nikushimi could do everything she was doing without chakra? Even he had trouble aiming things, if he had to do what she had been doing in the forest with the kunai and shuriken he'd have used chakra to make his throws more accurate.

"You… can't use chakra?" The fact that she couldn't use chakra hit him hard next. Ninjas used chakra often, Taijutsu was ok, but if you couldn't use chakra to enhance a kick or to walk on water, or walk up a tree, or boost your speed then you were basically at the skill level of a talented academy student!

"No, I can't use chakra. That's why I train my ass off with senbon, because that's something I can do." Nikushimi answered tensely.

"Um…. sorry, for accusing you of…." Obito muttered as he rubbed the back of his head and looked away. He felt bad. It was rare when you found a ninja who couldn't use charka, it was basic for all ninja to use chakra, so if Nikushimi couldn't use it…. then she would be strictly Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, the use of swords and Bukijutsu, the use of weapons.

"I'm not going to be without chakra forever, hopefully." Nikushimi said suddenly, Obito looked to her. She grinned at him.

"It's my Kekkei-Genkai, it affects my chakra system, so I have to train harder than most before I can even touch my chakra, and I can't use my chakra until I master my Kekkei-Genkai. " explained Nikushimi. Then she shrugged.

"And you don't have to apologize, I get that a lot. Everyone's pretty much given up on me so far, so I usually train by myself," Nikushimi then poked Obito with her pointer and middle finger between his eyes, "Besides you shouldn't apologize. It doesn't suit you, your eyes give away your expression too much without your goggles anyway."

"Hey!" muttered Obito as he rubbed where she poked him and she laughed.

"Now, get up and get your balance together!" barked Nikushimi as she stood.

"Alright, alright." mumbled Obito as he stood. He jumped up onto the log again. Nikushimi laughed at him, moments later after he fell once more.

"C'mon, I thought the oh so great Uchiha Obito was going to get this fast! After all, balance is the easiest step!"

Obito groaned.

How did he get himself into this mess again?

_o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_

Nikushimi and Obito made it their daily routine to get up, go grab two donuts and coffee, then sit in the café and talk while eating the donuts. So far two weeks had gone by and Obito had mastered the first log, now however he had a round log that had a three inch diameter that he had declared 'Hated him'.

"I'm telling you Nikushimi, the stupid thing hates me!" cried Obito, dramatically throwing his arms out as he avoided dropping his donut from his hand.

"It doesn't hate you Obito, it's not a sentient being." replied Nikushimi with a smirk.

"Don't be a smartass." grumbled Obito as he took a large bite from his donut.

"I'll be a smartass if I so feel like it." Nikushimi smirked at him as she sipped her coffee, mostly sugar and milk as usual. And like always, Obito gave her coffee a distasteful glance.

"How can you stand drinking that?" he demanded suddenly. Nikushimi stopped and looked at it. She shrugged.

"I suppose I'm used to it, I never had a taste for bland things. I can't drink coffee black, I can't drink just tea, I have to have something extreme. Nothing mild, I eat things extremely spicy, things extremely sweet, stuff like that. I suppose the only extreme I can't take is sour." Nikushimi puckered her lips as she said this, thinking of sour foods.

"Sour things are pretty bad, I like sweet things. But nothing too sweet, like your coffee probably tastes like liquid sugar and milk. No tea in it." commented Obito. He took a spoon and dipped it into Nikushimi's coffee before pulling it up. Sugar was in the spoon. He gave it a blank face.

"You have so much you're pretty much drinking sugar!" he said incredulously.

"Yeah well, like I said, extremes." Nikushimi waved him off and took back her coffee before downing it in a few gulps. She placed it down on the table and Obito peered in to find that it was completely empty.

"That's going to give you one killer of a stomach ache later." pointed out Obito.

"No it won't, Ketsueki's are known to have great immune systems and bodies, I almost never get sick, and I hardly ever get sick from eating like this." boasted Nikushimi. Obito frowned.

"Well one day it'll catch up to you, and then I'll laugh at you." Obito decided. Nikushimi laughed.

"Sure thing, that'll be the day I laugh at you for almost always being late!" Obito blushed slightly.

"H-hey! I usually stop to help someone!" he defended. Nikushimi chuckled.

"Yeah right, you've done that truthfully about three times in the last two weeks." huffed Nikushimi, "Now c'mon, we have training."

Obito groaned but allowed Nikushimi lead him to the training grounds with little complaining. When they got there he found his log set up, with a pipe that was about four centimeters in diameter. Obito paled when he saw that.

"Don't worry, that's not for you." Nikushimi informed him as she jumped up on to it, "I haven't trained my balance in awhile so I'll be training on this." Nikushimi pulled her leg up and stayed perfectly still. Obito watched, thoroughly impressed.

"Well, I can't let myself be outdone!" shouted Obito as he jumped up onto his log. He managed to stay up for about five seconds before losing his balance. He fell over and groaned.

"These logs hate me!" Obito whined. Nikushimi didn't even spare him a look.

"No, they don't. Like I said before, they're not alive so they can't hate you." replied Nikushimi as she concentrated on pulling her leg up as far as she could. She managed to pull it up so her heel touched her shoulder, "Huh, guess I'm lucky my legs are long." Nikushimi heard Obito snort so she turned to glare at him.

"Long? You're so short!" Obito laughed. As he laughed he began falling and he frantically tried to keep his balance. When he managed to get back his balance he could only yell as Nikushimi swung the leg she had been stretching to her shoulder. Her foot connected with his stomach and knocked him off his log.

"Don't you mock me, Uchiha! I will one day hit my grow spurt and be taller than you!" shouted Nikushimi, pointing at him. Obito sat up and glared at Nikushimi.

"Yeah right, you're probably never going to grow!" Obito retorted as he jumped back up onto his log.

"I am! Just you watch!" cried Nikushimi as she moved her leg back and she pulled it back up to her shoulder.

"Yeah, when pigs fly!" snorted Obito. Nikushimi scowled at him.

"Asshole!" she yelled, and with that, she tackled him from her perch.

"Hey, wait Nikushimi!" Obito flew back off of his log with Nikushimi. They landed and Nikushimi sat on Obito.

"Just you watch, I'll grow, and then I'll become the best ninja ever! Because I have to fulfill my dream!" yelled Nikushimi, shaking him with her hands gripped tightly on the collar of his jacket.

Obito looked up as Nikushimi continued to shake him. At that moment, he didn't see Nikushimi. He saw beyond her. He saw how she felt. She felt…

Abandoned.

Left behind.

Alone.

"Ne, Nikushimi?" asked Obito, Nikushimi stopped shaking him and she tilted her head.

"What?" she questioned.

"You're my friend, you know that?" Nikushimi stayed still for a few minutes. Then, a large smile broke across her face.

"Right… we're friends."

* * *

**AN**

**This chapter was hard for me to write because I'm mad at my dad. Other than that, hope you enjoyed it. Review or whatever.**

**Sayonara!**


	3. Academy Ninja

_**Crimson Stained **_

_Chapter 3_

_Academy Ninja_

* * *

Nikushimi, although always up early, was not a morning person. She usually managed to get all her negative thoughts out of her mind by the time training with Obito started, but it was a rather cool morning so she was cold and didn't want to move.

She managed to force herself up, but when she got to the training grounds Obito was there before her. That was a feat itself, because Obito was usually late. She grumbled to herself as she shuffled over to him, regretting that she didn't have winter training clothes.

"You look cold Nikushimi, it's rather cold I suppose for October." commented Obito as he looked up at the tree, which was slowly losing its colorful leaves, "And I got here before you."

"I didn't want to get up because of the cold. I usually don't get cold so easily, if I were superstitious I would say it's an omen, but I don't believe in destiny and that crap." Nikushimi replied as she sat down next to where Obito was leaning against the tree.

"Aren't you going to get the logs?" questioned Obito when Nikushimi didn't get up. Nikushimi stayed in her spot, but she did look over to Obito.

"I would, but I'm cold, and frankly, I don't really want to train today. How about we go get food instead?" suggested Nikushimi. Obito smirked.

"A little cold too much for the baby?" teased Obito. Nikushimi pouted at him, before replying.

"Yes." whined Nikushimi as she stood and grabbed Obito's sleeve, "I'm cold, too cold. Let's go get some food and just relax today." She dragged Obito to their usual cafe, where she got the usual, before she dragged Obito to the top of the Hokage monument where the rising sun shined right on them. She began sipping her coffee, thankful for the warmth it sent through her body.

They sat in peaceful silence, eating their donuts and drinking their coffee. Obito, trying something new, added a little more milk and sugar to his coffee to make it less bitter. He found he liked it, although he wouldn't go to the extent Nikushimi was at.

"So Nikushimi, who's on your team?" Obito asked suddenly, causing Nikushimi to choke on the donut she had been chewing. After Obito pat her on the back a few times, she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Wellllll," she drawled, before pausing, and sighing, "I don't have a team." Obito blinked.

"Wait, what?" he asked, confused. Nikushimi snorted.

"Moron, I'm not even a Genin yet." Nikushimi looked down at her coffee, "I'm still in the academy." Obito's mouth widened, about to deny that, but then he looked her over. He saw no headband, nothing that suggested she was a ninja. She never spoke about missions like he did, and she never spoke about her teammates.

It all made sense.

"You're, not a Genin?" he asked to confirm. Nikushimi shook her head, looking down.

"I can't pass the test, because I can't make a clone." whispered Nikushimi.

"But making a clone is so easy-wait…." Obito realized it as soon as he thought about it, "You can't use your chakra, so you can't make a clone." Nikushimi nodded.

"Bingo." she traced the rim around her cup.

"Then, shouldn't you have someone help you? Train you?" questioned Obito.

"Everyone has lost hope in me; I can barely make a henge for half as long as the other students, never mind a clone. My clones barely come into existence, it doesn't matter what they look like. My most successful one so far, looked like pudding with a face and a few small random body parts. And it only stayed for about a second before poofing away." murmured Nikushimi as she took a sip of her coffee, only to find it almost empty, "No one thinks I can be a ninja." Nikushimi pouted at her cup, sad she was almost out of coffee.

"I think you can." Nikushimi, startled, dropped her almost empty cup. It rolled down off the head of the Third Hokage, but Nikushimi ignored it in favor of looking at Obito. Unknown to him, tears were brimming in her eyes.

"Why?" she asked suddenly, "Why do you believe I can be a ninja?" Obito blinked, and then, he smiled at her.

"Because I'm your friend, and I believe that you can do anything you work hard for. You work so hard training with your senbon, I have no doubt that you could kill with them if you wanted to." he replied, truthfully. Nikushimi was stunned. Then, a single crimson colored tear trailed from the edge of her eye. She wiped it away and left a small stain on her hand bandages.

"Thank you, Obito, thank you for being my friend." Nikushimi sniffled a bit and looked down, "No one's ever really been my friend before you. At first, people would try to like me, but in the end, I would end up being annoying, or a loser. And, my classmates are all afraid that if they talk with me, or train with me, that I'll bring them down." Nikushimi looked up at Obito when she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Nikushimi," Obito pulled her into a hug, leaving her too stunned to do anything, "Don't let them get you down. They're not like you, you're special." Obito let go of Nikushimi after giving her a tight squeeze. Nikushimi frowned.

"I look different too, no one else wears bandages, but I have to because of my Kekkei-Genkai, and, whenever I show anyone my eyes, they call me creepy. And weird." muttered Nikushimi. Obito frowned at her.

"Shut up Nikushimi, you're not weird, or creepy!" snapped Obito. Nikushimi scowled.

"You haven't seen my eyes! You haven't seen them, they look like a demons!" cried Nikushimi. Suddenly, a smack was heard. Nikushimi was stunned as her hand went up to her cheek where Obito's hand had just made contact. She moved her back to look straight at Obito. She opened her mouth to comment, but Obito spoke first.

"Stop being an idiot Nikushimi! You're none of those things, stop thinking otherwise!" Obito growled. Nikushimi took a deep breath, and pulled her bangs back behind her ears. Her eyes were shut tight. Obito's eyes traveled her now uncovered face. Her face was rather normal, not too disfigured. However a long scar did run from her hairline, down across her right eye, down her cheek and it continued down until it disappeared under the bandages around her neck. Obito was surprised he hadn't noticed it earlier. He studied it, until Nikushimi opened her eyes.

A startled gasp left Obito when Nikushimi opened her eyes. Her silver pupils were slit like a snakes, and the rest of her eye was entirely crimson. Black X's crossed across each iris and moved with the pupil as Nikushimi's pupils scanned his face, looking for his expression. Around each pupil, slightly further out a bit was a ring that was a dark gray only a few shades lighter than the black X's that crossed her eyes.

"They're a bit…. surprising at first," admitted Obito, still searching her eyes for the whites, but not finding them, "But that doesn't mean that you're creepy. The Sharingan, when an Uchiha gets it, would be creepy to others too," Nikushimi blinked, just remembering that Obito was an Uchiha.

"Do you have your Sharingan?" asked Nikushimi curiously. Obito rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Eh, no, but I'm working on it!" Obito grinned at Nikushimi and gave her a thumbs up. Nikushimi grinned back at Obito after a moment.

"And I'm working on accessing my chakra!" She returned his thumbs up, with her own thumbs up. Obito started laughing, and Nikushimi smiled.

Nikushimi no longer felt as cold as she had earlier. And she had a feeling it wasn't from the rising sun or the coffee. It was from the warmth that was now inside her chest, coming from her heart.

"Hey Nikushimi, do me a favor, promise me that you'll always believe in yourself. You're not weird, you're not weak." ordered Obito. Nikushimi's smile widened.

"I promise that I will; now you promise that you'll always be my friend, that you'll never leave me." demanded Nikushimi. Obito gave Nikushimi a wide smile that could rival her own.

"I promise that I'll always be your friend, that I'll never leave you, and I never break a promise." promised Obito. They smiled at each other, and they moved their hands from giving a thumbs up to wrapping their pinkies together in a promise.

"Thank you, Obito."

* * *

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o _

* * *

"Focus, focus, focus, focus, focus, focus, focus, focus Obito!" shouted Nikushimi, continuously repeating it. Obito stood on one leg on the small pipe that Nikushimi had trained on up until Obito had reached that point. Obito, sweating from the effort it took to ignore Nikushimi's chanting, frowned.

"Hey, Nikushimi, I'm not going to fall!" he stated stubbornly. Nikushimi went to respond, however a loud yell cut her off.

"Ketsueki!" screeched a voice. Nikushimi scowled, and the yell had surprised Obito so much, he lost his balance and fell off the pole. He groaned and looked up at the noon sun as he stayed on the ground in a daze.

"There you are!" Obito sat up when he heard a short yell come from Nikushimi. He watched the academy instructor, a grumpy Chunin by the name of Muri, pick Nikushimi up by the back of her tank top.

"Ah, Muri-sensei!" cried Nikushimi, struggling to get out of the older man's grip. Her attempts were futile though as Muri just glared at her with his dark eyes.

"Why are you not in my class?" he growled. Nikushimi pouted.

"We're going over the body, I can already name what everything in your body does, most of your muscles, all of your bones, where they are, and I can name vital points and what best to hit them with and how hard. I don't need to go; it would take time away from my training!" argued Nikushimi, struggling to get her arm out of Muri's grasp. Muri merely gripped her harder as he began dragging her away.

"Let go of me damn it! Let go!" shouted Nikushimi, struggling harder. After she found that futile, she tried biting him. Sadly, he wore arm protectors so she did nothing.

"Let me goooo!" whined Nikushimi as she once again began thrashing around, trying to get from Muri's grip. When they disappeared, Obito stood there, slightly dumbfounded. He was so startled he didn't even notice the person walking over to him. They settled against the tree, waiting for Obito to notice them. When Obito didn't notice them, they spoke.

"Yo, Obito." Obito jumped, startled at the sudden voice of his sensei. He turned to find Minato standing behind him, leaning against the tree.

"Hey sensei." greeted Obito, then Obito sighed.

"What's up?" questioned Minato. Obito frowned.

"Nikushimi is still in the academy, and the academy instructor just dragged her away." explained Obito.

"It's her job to learn." Minato replied. Obito shook his head.

"You don't understand," Obito's frown deepened, "Nikushimi already knows everything at the academy, she just can't pass the test because she can't make a clone." A thoughtful look crossed Minato's face.

"Well…. there is one thing you can do to help Nikushimi."

And with that, Minato explained to Obito a way he could help Nikushimi.

* * *

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

* * *

"I can't do it!" Obito landed on the ground moments after his exclamation.

"I can do it." Nikushimi replied from her spot on the lowest tree branch. She looked up from the scroll she was reading on chakra and looked at Obito. Obito looked worn out, he had been trying nonstop to stay up on the three inch diameter pole while throwing kunai but it was impossible! For him anyway. He had managed to get the log the day before, now he had to move on to this! He liked it better when he didn't have to throw things.

The next step for learning how to use senbon was with your balance, you now had to be able to throw weapons with your extreme balance. So, Obito had been training with kunai on the logs and poles. He had managed to get through the log fast, but the poles were giving him problems.

"Well, you've been training for longer than me!" defended Obito. Nikushimi gave him a blank face.

"I'm younger than you." she pointed out, "So shouldn't you get it faster?" Obito frowned.

"Not necessarily, everyone learns at their own pace." he answered. Nikushimi shrugged.

"Well you'll get it eventually, why don't we take a break? Its past noon and you're probably hungry." Nikushimi offered as she put away her scroll and jumped down to the ground. She stood straight and cracked her back before looking to Obito who had stood up and pulled his goggles up so he could rub his eyes. She waited for him to finish before she began walking to their café. After getting some dango they went to the Hokage monument, where they sat on the third's head and watched the village. They sat in peaceful silence until a question came to Nikushimi's mind.

"Obito," Nikushimi asked suddenly, "What is your dream?" Obito looked at Nikushimi curiously. Such a serious and sudden question for her to ask, he decided.

"To become a great ninja and to fight for the village alongside my comrades." he replied, his voice true and proud, not wavering a bit.

'That is truly what he wants to do, I can feel his will to complete his dream in his voice.' noted Nikushimi.

"What about you, what is your dream, Nikushimi?" inquired Obito. Nikushimi clenched her fist, a gesture that didn't escape Obito's notice.

"My dream, no it's my goal. My goal is to protect my comrades, those I care for, no matter the cost," Nikushimi turned her head to the sky and watched the clouds, "Even if it means I die. So be it, as long as my comrades live on."

Obito was stunned into silence by the heaviness her words had to them. They were so… serious. Not uplifting like his were. But he still gave her a warm smile.

"That is a good dream Nikushimi, but don't sacrifice yourself, because I'd miss you." Nikushimi laughed and grinned at Obito.

"Of course not! You can't get rid of me; I'm like a cockroach, hard to get rid of!" Nikushimi joked. Obito made a face.

"Don't compare yourself to a bug." Obito grimaced at the thought of cockroaches, he could take everything a ninja could throw at him, but cockroaches were absolutely disgusting!

"What, are you afraid of cockroaches? They're just bugs." pointed out Nikushimi. Obito made a disgusted face.

"_Just_ bugs? They're disgusting! And impossible to get rid of! And they come out of nowhere!" complained Obito. Nikushimi laughed.

"They're bugs, just get some bug poison stuff and sleep out for a few days while the poison kills them off. My building used to be infested; it took just a little poison to get them." Nikushimi replied with a grin. Obito shook his head.

"Disgusting bugs, let's just get off the topic." Obito shuddered a little, thinking once more about the cockroaches.

"Maybe I'll get a pet cockroach to scare you." mused Nikushimi out loud, Obit cringed.

"If you do that, then I'll never get within twenty feet of you ever again." Obito warned in a slight teasing voice. Nikushimi pouted.

"I was just kidding!" she raised her hands in defeat before she looked forward and out over the village.

"This village is really peaceful." Nikushimi sighed peacefully. Obito nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's too bad that outside these walls there is so much fighting going on. It's not too bad now, but it will probably get worse soon. I'm glad that nothing major has happened though." Obito replied. Nikushimi shrugged.

"If you ask me, all that fighting is stupid. All it does is bring pain and death, both sides are hurt in it." Nikushimi muttered. Obito went to respond, when he looked at the sun and found it to be getting late.

"Oh no! I'm late!" he exclaimed, jumping up.

"For what?" questioned a slightly startled and amused Nikushimi.

"I have an appointment with the Hokage that I've been waiting for! I have to go!" Obito took off after his brief and quick explanation to Nikushimi. She blinked and watched as he disappeared from view. Then she laughed.

"Ah, Obito, you're always late. What does it matter?"

* * *

**AN**

**So, I got the new Naruto videogame, and the new sim city, and the new sims expansion pack. I'm happy. Although sim city hates me. It really does.**

**How was the chapter?**

**Sayonara!**


	4. The First Mission Begins

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 4_

_The First Mission Begins_

* * *

Nikushimi stood there, gaping at the Hokage. She had been surprised when the Jounin had arrived at her home and told her the Hokage had requested her presence, she never imagined this.

"R-really? You're not joking are you?" demanded Nikushimi. The Third Hokage laughed at the small girl.

"I'm not joking Nikushimi, Team Minato is heading out on a C ranked mission soon and you'll be going with them." the Hokage confirmed. Nikushimi felt happy tears in her eyes, but she wiped them away and gave him the biggest smile she could muster.

"Thank you so much, Hokage-sama! I won't let you down, I promise!" Nikushimi bowed to him and she rose when she heard him laugh.

"You have such spirit." he said at her curious look, "I can see the Will of Fire burns bright within you from just this meeting." Nikushimi, deciding that was a compliment, grinned at the Hokage.

"I just have one question though," Nikushimi made a thoughtful expression, "Why choose me to go on this mission? Why give me a chance? What made you look past all the other Genin to the one who keeps failing?" The Hokage chuckled.

"It was brought to my attention by a fellow ninja who was watching your progress." the Hokage informed her. Nikushimi blinked.

'Someone was watching my progress? Who? Muri-sensei?' Nikushimi said farewell to the Hokage, who told her that Team Minato would be leaving the next day early in the morning and to meet the team at the gate at around seven in the morning. As she walked through the town, getting supplies she would need, Nikushimi's thoughts wandered.

'Who pointed me out to the Hokage? Was it some random observer, or someone I know? I doubt it was Muri-sensei, he thinks that I'm destined to fail. And I don't really know any other ninja; maybe Obito's sensei recommended me? He saw me with my senbon, although that isn't much to go off of…'

Nikushimi pouted at herself as she walked down the street with a small bag that had a few ninja tools needed for missions.

'Those are the only ninja I know! I guess I can't figure this out now, it really isn't that important, I should focus on packing so I don't forget anything.'

Nikushimi nodded at her thoughts when she arrived at her building. She moved to her apartment where she entered.

"I'm home." she called softly, knowing no one would answer her. Nikushimi often called that she was home when she came in, no one ever answered her but she liked to believe and pretend someone would.

Placing her bag on the table she went into her room where she grabbed a small scroll that required barely any chakra to store things in. She placed a few small ration bars, matches, a bottle of water, and a few extra kunai and shuriken in there. She sealed them with slight difficulty and then set the scroll on the table.

In her next scroll, which was slightly bigger, she put two changes of clothes, a few rolls of bandages, a medical kit, and a few extra senbon.

"Hm, I suppose I can share a tent with Obito's teammate, Rin, or I could sleep outside. I can pack my sleeping bag in the morning too, so I don't forget it." decided Nikushimi as she walked into her room and grabbed the scroll that contained her sleeping bag. She placed it on the table; next to her other scrolls and put an extra empty scroll down just in case she needed to pack anything else.

"All set for tomorrow, I'm so excited!" Nikushimi grinned at herself from the mirror hanging on the wall.

Her first mission. She was ready for anything.

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o 0o0o0o_

The next morning Nikushimi surprisingly woke up late. She rushed around, quickly applying her bandages and grabbing an apple to eat. As she munched on her apple she grabbed her small hip pouch that could hold three scrolls.

"Anything else I need?" wondered Nikushimi as she moved the extra empty scroll to the side so she could put the three full ones in her bag. Nikushimi went through her mental checklist of needed things, finding none she strapped her ninja gear on and left.

When she made it to the gate she found that everyone else was there other than her, even Obito was there.

'Ooh, I'm late.' Nikushimi thought in disdain, 'Such a great first impression…'

"What do you mean we're just doing a C rank?" demanded an angry voice Nikushimi recognized as Kakashi's.

"We're taking an inexperienced academy student with us to be evaluated, we can't do anything too much for her." Minato replied as he turned. When he saw Nikushimi approaching them he gave her a small smile and waved her over.

"You guys all remember Nikushimi, right?" asked Minato, putting a hand on Nikushimi's shoulder.

"Wait, I thought we were taking an academy student…" trailed Rin in confusion.

"Nikushimi is unable to make a clone, so she isn't able to graduate from the academy because it's required to make a clone for the exam. The Hokage is letting Nikushimi come with us because she is talented in her weaponry and she isn't bad in Taijutsu according to the academy instructor." Minato explained. Rin blinked.

"But making a clone isn't that hard." she replied bluntly, she immediately realized how insulting it sounded after she had said it.

"Oh, sorry Nikushimi! I didn't mean to insult you, but…. um making a clone is rather easy…." Rin tried to apologize lamely. Nikushimi waved her off.

"It's fine; I can't use my chakra yet because of my Kekkei-Genkai so I can't get enough chakra to make a clone." Nikushimi informed them, trying to hide the bitterness from her voice.

"Then why are you coming with us? If you can't use chakra, you aren't fit to be a ninja. Ninja use chakra in everything, if you can't use charka you're just a waste of space on the battlefield." Kakashi snapped. Nikushimi scowled at him, her happy mood quickly going sour and her bitterness seeping out. Before she could say anything however, Obito spoke up.

"You watch your mouth, Kakashi, Nikushimi could take you down with her senbon any day!" Obito defended. Nikushimi felt her heart warm at her friend defending her.

'My heart…. it feels nice to have someone defend me…' decided Nikushimi.

"That is a poor excuse." huffed Kakashi, turning away from them. Rin sent Nikushimi an apologetic look from the other side of Kakashi.

"Let's head out so we can get there before night, Nikushimi you packed camping gear for this right? If we take too long or get held up you'll need that." Minato informed Nikushimi. Nikushimi grinned and pointed at the pouch that held her scrolls.

"I have three scrolls with things in them in here." she replied proudly, quite happy she was able to use scrolls in the first place.

"Good," praised Minato, "Now let's move out."

The walk to the village took them until sunset. On the way there, Kakashi continuously prodded at Nikushimi, and she was ready to blow at him. Obito was upset that Kakashi was insulting his friend and Rin was trying her hardest to keep the peace of the three, however she was quite unsuccessful.

"I am going to be the best ninja ever, just you watch me Hatake!" snapped Nikushimi around sundown.

"You'll be a failure; all academy students can use chakra. If you can't use chakra, you're worthless." Kakashi replied bitterly.

"I'll use chakra eventually, I just have to work harder than everyone else, I have to worse twice as hard and you just wait! I'll be stronger than you no matter what!" yelled Nikushimi, pointing at Kakashi as they kept moving down the dirt road.

"We're almost there; I don't want you fighting in front of the client." Minato warned them. Kakashi nodded in his direction and started ignoring Nikushimi. Nikushimi huffed and turned to Obito, muttering "Asshole!" under her breath.

When they arrived at the gate to their client's town they stood there until their client met them. He was a large man with defined muscles and dark hair and eyes. He had a rugged look about him, one that made Nikushimi decide that he was suspicious.

"You're the escorts the village sent?" he asked, looking them over, "Eh?" The man walked over to them and peered down from his tall height down to look at Nikushimi.

"You must be bluffing, you expect me to believe that this…this child is a ninja? The Hokage must be fooling me, this isn't what I paid for! I paid for protection!" the man ranted. Nikushimi scowled up at the man.

"Hey! I am a ninja, you old goat! I could kick your ass to and from Konoha and back!" shouted Nikushimi, pointing at him. He returned her scowl with his own.

"What did you say to me you little brat?!" he growled.

"You heard me you old goat!" Nikushimi replied. The man went to grab her however a woman's voice stopped them.

"Kenji, please stop antagonizing the poor dear." The ninja all turned and Kenji flew around.

"Ah, Yuki, my darling, I wasn't antagonizing her!" Kenji replied quickly. Nikushimi stepped to the side to see past Kenji and her eyes widened.

'That's the old goat's wife?!' Nikushimi thought incredulously.

Yuki was a beautiful woman. Long golden hair cascaded down her back in curls and her bright emerald eyes shone in the light. Her body was a perfect hourglass shape and the spring green kimono she wore brought out her soft features.

"That's the old badger's wife?" Obito muttered in disbelief so that only he and Nikushimi could hear.

"I know, she's so pretty!" Nikushimi whispered back.

"You were, and you shouldn't think so lowly as to think the Hokage would send us a below level team." Yuki scolded lightly. Kenji huffed quietly and instead of responding to Yuki, he turned around to speak with Minato. Yuki walked up to Nikushimi, Obito, and Rin. Kakashi decided to go and speak with Minato in favor of staying around Nikushimi and Obito.

"So you are our escorts?" Yuki asked them, her mouth parting in a smile that showed her perfectly white teeth. She stopped in front of them and Nikushimi noticed that her posture was straight and she walked with such grace!

'This woman…. she's so perfect!... How can she be so flawless? It's unnatural!' wondered Nikushimi.

"Yes, I'm Nohara Rin, that's our sensei, Minato-sensei, and our teammate over there is Hatake Kakashi." Rin introduced herself to Yuki before pointing out Minato and Kakashi who were speaking to Kenji.

"I'm Uchiha Obito!" Obito announced, grinning at Yuki. They all looked to Nikushimi, who grinned like Obito.

"And I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi, don't you forget it!" Nikushimi added.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Yuki and over there is my husband Kenji." Yuki replied, giving a slight bow to the ninja.

"So you guys are going to Konoha? How come?" questioned Rin. Yuki smiled.

"Kenji wishes to purchase some things to help him in his shop while I wish to go and see a doctor." Yuki answered, looking over at Kenji who was gesturing to the cart that had yet to be loaded.

"Oh, I see, so you just need us to look out for robbers and highwaymen." deducted Obito. Yuki looked away from them to once again look at Kenji.

"Yes, I'm very worried for my safety because of my health recently." Yuki said distractedly as she watched Kenji make a few angry gestures, "Excuse me." Yuki made her way over to the short tempered man and she calmed him down.

"They're really opposites." commented Rin. Nikushimi and Obito both nodded in agreement.

"She's so…. pretty and he's so….." trailed Obito.

"Gruff?" suggested Rin.

"That too." Obito nodded.

"And she's so nice, while he's so mean!" huffed Nikushimi, not forgetting him calling her a child. Rin laughed at Nikushimi.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it, you're just so short." Rin teased. Nikushimi pouted.

"I'm not short! I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet!" she protested loudly.

"Yeah, and I'll grow wings and fly." Obito added.

"Don't gang up on me or else I'll get Minato!" warned Nikushimi. Obito ruffled her hair with a laugh, much to her annoyance.

"Relax, we're just teasing you, no need to get so worked up." Obito informed her.

"Guys!" called Minato, causing the three of them to turn to see Minato gesturing for them to come over. They trouped over to him where they stood next to Kakashi.

Alright, we're going to stay the night here and leave early in the morning so we can get to the village quick and before tomorrow night, any objections?" Minato decided. When no objections were made Yuki and Kenji led them to their home. They had a medium sized townhouse that had a backyard and two floors. It was rather nice Nikushimi decided.

"We have two guest bedrooms, and couches down here in the living room." Yuki called to them as she moved into the kitchen. Minato turned to his students and Nikushimi.

"Alright, I'll take the couch, you four split up the two guest rooms." Minato ordered before he went our back to where Kenji was. Nikushimi and Obito grinned at each other.

"We'll share a room." they offered together.

"Are you sure? Why don't we do boys and girls?" suggested Rin.

"I'm more comfortable with Obito." admitted Nikushimi, "We're friends."

"And Kakashi is too annoying for me to share a room with!" huffed Obito. Kakashi gave Obito a dry look.

"You're the one that's annoying." he replied monotonously before he took off to follow Minato. Rin sighed.

"Alright then." she gave in. Obito and Nikushimi shared grins before Rin decided to explore the house and she left them. Obito and Nikushimi decided to keep Yuki company in the kitchen. They slid into chairs at the table and watched as Yuki moved around gracefully while making dinner.

"Do you guys not like anything? Or have any allergies?" questioned Yuki.

"Not that I know of." Obito replied, looking to Nikushimi who shook her head.

"Alright, then I'm going to make something simple, some rice and noodles." decided Yuki, more to herself than Obito and Nikushimi.

"So let's play a game." suggested Obito. Nikushimi gave him a curious look.

"Like what?" she inquired. Obito grinned.

"I ask a question, you answer then you ask a question, then I answer and then ask you a question and repeat." Obito decided. Nikushimi shrugged in response, "You go first."

"Hm, what's your favorite color?" asked Nikushimi simply. Obito made a thoughtful face.

"Either dark blue or orange." he decided after some careful thinking. Nikushimi nodded.

"I myself prefer black or silver." she commented. Obito nodded.

"What's your favorite food?" he questioned. She grinned.

"Either sushi or dango." she answered easily.

"Dango, yum." Obito grinned, thinking about the sweet treats.

"It is yummy, so what's your favorite Jutsu?" she questioned.

"Fireball Jutsu, it's my best Jutsu." Obito answered. Nikushimi nodded.

"I can't really say I like any Jutsu because I can't do any, if you want my least favorite it's the clone Jutsu because it's impossible!" Nikushimi replied bitterly.

"What's your favorite word?" asked Obito. Nikushimi blinked.

"Mm, probably either 'protect' or 'comrades'." Nikushimi answered after a few moments of thinking.

"I like the word 'comrade' and I also like the word 'teamwork'." Obito added, nodding to himself.

"So…. who's your favorite friend?" inquired Nikushimi with a grin. Obit grinned back.

"Guess whim if you need a hint, she's awesome and uses senbon like no one else!" Nikushimi made a thinking face.

"Let's see…. who could it be… I don't know…." Nikushimi trailed thoughtfully, before laughing at Obito's deadpan expression, "Just kidding, I know it's me." Obito shook his head before laughing slightly.

"What's your favorite…. I don't know book?" wondered Obito. Nikushimi paused and took a few minutes to think.

"I suppose I really like this book called 'Masked Hearts'. It's about these two warriors who face life and in the end; the girl leaves their colony because the boy died. Supposedly, there's a sequel but the author only made a few copies so I can't find it anywhere. Supposedly, the boy comes back from the dead, or so I heard." Nikushimi summarized. Obito blinked.

"Why's it called 'Masked Hearts'?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi blinked. Then grinned.

"It's because in their colony it was traditional to wear masks to battle and to mask their emotion, however because they masked their emotions they didn't realize their love until it was too late." explained Nikushimi. Obito nodded.

"I see, it sounds like a good book." Obito decided. Nikushimi nodded back at him.

"It is, I didn't want to put it down once I started!" Nikushimi agreed.

"Dinner!" called Yuki, interrupting them. Throughout their talking they hadn't even noticed she had put down chopsticks and bowls. Nikushimi and Obito scooted over next to each other while Rin and Kakashi came in, Rin taking the seat next to Nikushimi and Kakashi taking the one farthest away from Nikushimi and Obito. Minato took the seat next to Rin and Yuki and Kenji sat next to Obito and Kakashi.

"We're in a circle." Rin pointed out unnecessarily.

"I like having a circular table because then we can all see each other when we're eating." Yuki replied, serving the noodles and rice. Once she finished they dug in.

"This is very good, what kind of noodles are these?" inquired Minato a few minutes later.

"Sapoto noodles they're made from Sapoto grains that are grown in my homeland. We grow them out back." Yuki answered him cheerfully, glad that everyone liked her food.

'Sapoto?' Minato thought curiously, he had heard that name before somewhere. Dismissing it as nothing, he continued eating.

"Hey, Obito! What are you doing, stealing my noodles?!" complained Nikushimi as Obito tried to stealthily take some of Nikushimi's noodles, only for her to notice and smack his chopsticks away with her own.

"You can't finish all these, you're so small!" protested Obito. Nikushimi frowned.

"Stop calling me short! You and Rin are against me today!" cried Nikushimi, although her focus was still on using her chopsticks as swords to keep Obito's chopsticks away from her noodles. They both paused to stare at Yuki though when she started laughing.

"You both are just so cute." she giggled. Obito and Nikushimi shared a look.

'Cute? Me? No.' decided Nikushimi, moving to once again defend her food from Obito's assault.

"Victory!" Obito grinned as he stole a noodle and slurped it up.

"Just get more noodles! Stop taking mine!" huffed Nikushimi, slurping up her noodles while cautiously watching for Obito's chopsticks.

"There are no more." Obito retorted while striking his chopsticks one way. Nikushimi went to counter with her own, however it was only a diversion and Obito once again got away with her noodles. Nikushimi sighed.

"I give up." she forfeited, sliding her bowl to Obito who slurped it up without complaint.

"Head to sleep early tonight, we're getting up early." Minato warned as he and Kakashi finished. Rin quietly swallowed her last bite of rice and nodded at her sensei.

After bidding everyone good night Nikushimi and Obito took one guest room. Finding one bed, Obito turned to Nikushimi.

"You take it; I took your food after all." Obito offered. Nikushimi shook her head.

"No, you take it." Nikushimi replied.

"I insist you take it." Obito insisted.

"I refuse to let you sleep on the floor." Nikushimi retorted. Obito paused.

"How about we share the bed?" he suggested.

"That'd be awkward." she denied, slipping into the bathroom, "You're taking the bed or else no one's taking the bed!" As she changed into an overly large tee shirt she had taken from Obito's things she heard Obito sigh. After she pulled on her shorts she folded her clothes and sealed them. When she exited she found that Obito had changed while she was in the bathroom. He had on a pair of shorts and a shirt similar to the one she had stolen.

"Hey, that's my shirt." Obito realized as he looked at Nikushimi who was in the process of trying to get her hair from its ponytail. When she managed to get it out her hair, when in a ponytail went to just below her mid back, now fell to just beneath her waist.

"It is." confirmed Nikushimi as she ran her hand threw her hair a few times. Obito looked her over again, noticing she hadn't taken her bandages off.

"Aren't you going to take off your bandages?" he questioned. Nikushimi shook her head.

"No," Nikushimi took her sleeping bag from her scroll and set it up on the floor next to the bed that was against the wall, "I'm not comfortable not wearing them in the presence of others." Obito frowned as he watched her take out a pillow and throw it to the ground with an audible thump by where her head would be.

"Are you sure you don't want the bed? The floor's probably hard and cold…" Obito offered again.

"I'm sure, night." Nikushimi replied, turning off the lights and sliding into her sleeping bag. Obito pulled the blankets up over him and he rolled over on his side to watch Nikushimi. She buried herself in her sleeping bag and pulled her pillow inside seeing as how she was pretty much engulfed by the sleeping bag.

"Night." Obito called softly, closing his eyes and trying to drift off into sleep.

Nikushimi, somewhat comfortable in her sleeping bag, heard Obito's goodnight and called back another goodnight. She pretended to be asleep until she heard Obito's breathing even out. She stretched out and almost groaned, the floor hurt her bones. She didn't have a mat for under her sleeping bag so the floor hurt a lot!

Nikushimi rolled over and tried to get to sleep and found that she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned for what felt like hours until she found a decent position with her on top of her sleeping bag, curled up on her large pillow.

'This is comfy, but cold…' Nikushimi pouted while trying to get to sleep. She still couldn't get to sleep though.

'Right, I sleep really bad when I'm not in my apartment.' Nikushimi sighed quietly, remembering the time she tried sleeping out at a slumber party a few years before. She had been awake the entire night and slightly creeped out the other girls. She was no longer invited to anyone's house any more after that.

Obito woke up when he heard a soft, "Ouch!" come from Nikushimi. He watched as she tried to get comfortable again by rolling her sleeping bag up and giving her another layer between her and the floor.

Obito went back to sleep until Nikushimi dozed off slightly from staring at the wall for about an hour. He woke up again and noticed she was uncomfortable and not sleeping well. He stood quietly and using his ninja stealth he snuck over and picked her up.

'Nikushimi's really light!' Obito realized as he held the small girl in his arms. He brought her over to the bed where he put her down and looked out the window. He could see the sky becoming light in the east.

'Nikushimi was up pretty much the entire night.' Obito noticed. He shook his head and pulled the blanket up over her. He pushed the hair out of her face and smiled down at her. She was in a light sleep; she would be grouchy when she woke up most likely.

"Sleep well for the rest of the night, Nikushimi." whispered Obito before taking her sleeping bag. He fell asleep moments later, wondering how she could have had such a hard time sleeping in such a comfy sleeping bag.

* * *

**AN**

**Long chapter. And this is the first chapter of the 'First Mission!' arc.**

**Review or whatever.**

**Sayonara!**


	5. Fun and Games Until Trouble Comes

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 5_

_Fun And Games Until Trouble Comes_

* * *

When Obito woke up he found that Nikushimi was still asleep. He carefully and quietly changed in the bathroom and packed their things. He left Nikushimi's scroll out so she could grab her things and then he went down to breakfast. Everyone else was down there except for him and Nikushimi.

"Where's Nikushimi?" asked Rin curiously. Obito sighed.

"She wasn't able to sleep for most of the night, so I moved her to the bed and I'm letting her sleep as long as possible." Obito answered, grabbing some food for him. After a second thought, he set aside some things for Nikushimi.

"Aww, that's so cute, she's lucky to have a boyfriend like you." cooed Yuki. Rin laughed as Obito's face turned slightly pink.

"E-eh, watch your wording, she's just my best friend!" yelled Obito loudly. Minato and Kenji started laughing at Obito next and Kakashi just shook his head, deciding that his teammate was an idiot.

"Morning guys…." everyone turned to see Nikushimi in the doorway, looking barely aware of what was going on. A large yawn erupted from her and she shuffled over to sit next to Obito. He pushed the plate he saved for her over to her and she slowly began eating. She looked like she was barely awake. To test this, Obito poked her forehead. She just continued to robotically eat her food, not noticing she had been poked.

"She's like a zombie…" trailed Rin, watching as Obito once again poked the smaller girl only to once again receive no response.

"Nikushimi, wake up." called Obito, shaking her shoulder. When he received no response, he grabbed his cup of water and with one dump he had poured it all on her head.

"What the hell!?" cried Nikushimi, jumping up from her daze and looking around wildly, only to find a bunch of laughing people rather than an army of ninja. She turned to the culprit and gave Obito a frown.

"Bad Obito, no dumping water on my head!" yelled Nikushimi, grabbing someone else's water and dumping it on his head before he could dodge. Obito yelled and jumped up from his seat to avoid getting the water all over the table.

"Hey what was that for?" he demanded. Nikushimi stuck her tongue out at him.

"Now we're even." she stated before she sat down to continue eating, not caring much about the fact her hair was soaked from the water. Obito grumbled a bit about how he needed to dry his hair now before he sat down next to her and took a bitter bite of his food.

"Little demon spawn." Obito muttered crossly.

"Big stupid ogre." responded Nikushimi. They glared at each other, and Minato and Rin tensed, ready for the two to leap at each other. They both relaxed though when Obito and Nikushimi started laughing.

"Ok guys, get serious now." Minato ordered lightly, after a few more minutes of laughing Obito and Nikushimi settled down and started to eat seriously.

"Now, we're heading back to the village once everyone is packed up." Kenji nodded, his mouth full of food. Yuki also nodded, although she seemed to be more skittish than her husband.

'Maybe she's nervous about the ride?' wondered Nikushimi as she took in the fact that Yuki was absent mindedly pouring sugar into her coffee, almost as much as Nikushimi does.

"Are you nervous Yuki? It seems like it, with the way you're pouring so much sugar in your coffee…." trailed Nikushimi. Yuki blinked and glanced down at her coffee. She laughed, albeit awkwardly and shook her head.

"No, I'm not nervous; I just like things very sweet, things to the extreme I suppose one would say." Yuki dismissed. Nikushimi grinned.

"Like me! I can't have just bland things, they have to be really sweet or spicy or else I'm not satisfied." Nikushimi replied, dumping sugar into the coffee she had poured herself.

"Aren't you a bit young for coffee?" pointed out Kenji. Nikushimi's eyes narrowed.

"I am eleven I'll have you know! I am not a kid! And so what? I get up early, I need coffee." Nikushimi muttered bitterly, taking an angry gulp of her coffee.

"Hoooootttttt!" she squealed a moment later, setting her cup down and downing a cup of water that had once been Rin's. Rin only shook her head with a sigh in response.

"If you're really not such a kid then why do you act like one." stated Kakashi. Nikushimi scowled at him.

"It's called embracing it before you get all old and grouchy, looks like it's too late for you with your gray hair and attitude!" shouted Nikushimi. Minato sighed.

"Nikushimi, please tone down the volume before we all get headaches. It's too early in the morning for your exuberance." he requested. Nikushimi pouted but decided to shut up and eat.

"Big mouth." laughed Obito only to receive a mouth full of napkin, courtesy of Nikushimi.

"Mmmfhffh!" Obito spit it out after a muffled attempt at yelling at Nikushimi.

"Children please, learn table manners." admonished Rin. Nikushimi and Obito both looked at each other and shut up. The rest of their breakfast was peaceful.

When they hit the road Obito knew Nikushimi wasn't going to be very fun since her coffee high had run out. Yuki was riding in the wagon while Kenji and Minato stayed up front by the two horses. That left Obito, Rin, and Nikushimi to one side while Kakashi took the other, refusing to have one of his teammates by him.

"You look tired." Rin commented to Nikushimi about half an hour into their walk.

"No shit." grumbled Nikushimi, and Rin just shook off Nikushimi's rudeness and decided to start a conversation with Yuki.

"Stop being such a grouch Nikushimi." teased Obito. Nikushimi only gave him a steely look. Ten more minutes of Nikushimi's coldness got to him.

"That's it, you're tired." Obito finally stopped to turn to Nikushimi.

"No, really? I hadn't noticed." Nikushimi drawled.

"So you're going to get on my back and I'm going to carry you back, no arguing." Obito ordered, turning around and crouching so Nikushimi could jump on his back. Nikushimi opened her mouth to argue, but Obito cut her off, "And no arguing I said! Just get on!"

"Fine." muttered Nikushimi as she jumped onto Obito's back. Obito stood up and held Nikushimi up by her legs while she leaned her head on his shoulder and lazily threw her arms over his shoulders and around his neck.

She was asleep barely five minutes later.

Obito carried Nikushimi the entire time, not complaining. Although her breathing on his neck did tickle and he wished she would turn her head.

"She's lucky to have a boyfriend like you." Yuki called from the cart. Obito turned is head to give Yuki a look.

"Friend! Just friend!" he replied with another pink blush spreading across his cheeks that made Yuki and Rin laugh. Obito stopped to adjust Nikushimi, who was slowly sliding off, and he walked over to the wagon.

"Stop assuming things." he complained as Nikushimi muttered a few incoherent things in her sleep.

"But it's so cute to see you flustered, it reminds me of Kenji when he was little, we were such good friends back then and now look at us!" Yuki sighed contentedly and smiled softly. She was very relaxed now, much different than her jittery nerves when they first started.

"Yeah yeah." muttered Obito as the wagon stopped.

"Let's stop for some lunch." decided Minato. They all nodded and Rin helped Yuki down while Minato took their lunch out. Kenji stopped the horses and Obito gently sat Nikushimi down before violently shaking her.

"Eh!?" Nikushimi jumped up, looking around wildly for her attacker, only to find Obito standing there looking amused, "Oh….. It's only you, Obito." Nikushimi yawned and looked around.

"Lunch time." Obito informed her. She grinned as they walked over to Minato where he had set up their lunch. They all sat down and Nikushimi grabbed her food. She took a bite of it and frowned finding it very bland. Nikushimi grabbed some of the spice and threw a ton of it on. Then she looked to Yuki.

"Want some? It'll make this less bland." offered Nikushimi. Yuki shook her head with a smile.

"No thank you, thank you for offering though." Yuki replied, taking a bite of her food. Nikushimi shrugged and put the spice down before taking a bite of her food, quite happy with the new taste.

"Is it good?" asked Obito who found his only a little bland.

"Yeah! Wanna try some?" Nikushimi broke off a piece and offered it to Obito. He took it and popped it in his mouth, moments later his eyes were tearing and he pulled his goggles off to wipe at his eyes.

"Too spicy?" laughed Nikushimi.

"N-no!" sputtered Obito, "I just had something in my eye!" Nikushimi rolled her eyes and Rin laughed, seeing this. Nikushimi mouthed 'Liar' at Rin, making her laugh harder.

"Why're you laughing?" asked Obito, but this only made Rin start laughing so hard, she stopped making noise. After Rin calmed down, which took about five minutes of her looking like she was having a seizure, they finished up their lunch. Cleaning up was easy, although Obito and Nikushimi weren't allowed to help after they started throwing things at each other.

"It's your fault." huffed Nikushimi to Obito as Minato shook his head at them before they started walking again. Obito wisely chose not to respond, although he did grin at Nikushimi who grinned back.

"Since we have the wagon we'll probably have to stay out for the night." muttered Minato to himself, looking up at the sky where the sun was about three quarters of the way across, "Unless we hurry…."

"So Nikushimi, I think your first mission was pretty good. Are you sad it's almost over?" asked Obito. Nikushimi shrugged.

"I think it was pretty fun, nothing too exciting really happened, so yeah I guess I am sad. I kind of wish there had been a little excitement." replied Nikushimi.

"I think it was good nothing happened; even bandits could cause a lot of trouble if we ran into any." commented Rin.

"I'm glad that we didn't run into anyone." Yuki added from her position on the wagon.

"Look out!" Minato yelled suddenly, grabbing Kenji and jumping back while Kakashi grabbed Yuki. Suddenly, the wagon was destroyed as a large shuriken with a strange orange aura hit right where Yuki had been sitting before Kakashi had moved her. Minato placed Kenji behind the trees before jumping over to his team.

"Nikushimi, Yuki, hide over there behind the trees. Don't come out no matter what!" ordered Minato before he turned to his students, "Rin, stay out of major fights, you're our medic, Obito, Kakashi, I'll take the leader while you two take on any others that show up."

"Understood!" Nikushimi grabbed Yuki's arm and was about to leave, when she was roughly grabbed and pulled to the side by Obito. Right where they had been standing a moment before was now a large shuriken.

"We'll be taking that woman if you value your lives." called a smooth voice. They all turned to see three ninja standing on a thick tree branch. The speaker was the one in the center. His dark gold hair covered one of his eyes; however his showing steely emerald eye pierced into Nikushimi's soul. She felt her heart tighten and fear coursed through her.

'He will kill me if he can!' she realized, making her heart drop.

"You will not be taking Yuki!" Minato announced, stepping in front of his students and Yuki.

"Your students are no match for our skill levels, this fight will be over before it begins." This time the female enemy ninja spoke. Her sharp silver eyes watched Minato, her gaze taking in everything she could see. But her body was tense, ready for a fight.

Nikushimi looked to the last ninja. He wasn't as intimidating; he looked much like a child. Large and wide brown eyes that reminded Nikushimi of a doe and messy auburn hair. But Nikushimi knew that even though he was short and looked like a child, he was still dangerous. Looks could be deceiving.

"Then let us begin." called the man, he looked to his two companions, "Saiken, Iki, take care of the kids, I'll get the Jounin." They were gone in a flash; the only thing heard was the two ninjas response of "Yes Kyosei!".

Nikushimi pulled Yuki with her and barely made it halfway to the tree line before a gust of wind blew in front of her and the woman, Saiken, appeared before her. Nikushimi gasped and stopped, her heart pounding. Pulling herself together, she pulled out her senbon. The woman gave an amused smirk seeing them.

"Senbon? Only children play with senbon, little girl." The woman ran forward, a sword materializing seemingly from nowhere. Nikushimi's heard dropped to her feet, the woman was too fast for Nikushimi. She closed her eyes tight, tensed up waiting for the sword to rip through her. When it never came and instead, a clang was heard she opened her eyes. Standing before her was Obito, a kunai drawn and holding back Saiken's sword.

"You and Yuki get out of here! Nikushimi, stay safe, and promise me that you won't die!" ordered Obito, turning to look at Nikushimi. Nikushimi nodded.

"I promise!" she replied before she grabbed Yuki and pulled her away into the trees. They ran through it for a bit before stopping. They still had view of the battlefield, but they were hiding behind the trees and bushes.

"This is bad! They're after me!" Yuki fell to the ground, "Oh, I knew we should have gotten a higher level guard!" Nikushimi frowned and kneeled next to her.

"What's going on Yuki? Tell me now." ordered Nikushimi.

"I'm not just a civilian, I'm from a Shinobi clan, but I didn't want any part so I left. But now they're after me! This is why I hate going out of the town; they can't touch me in there but outside of the town….." Yuki moaned. Nikushimi's eyes widened.

"Which mean that they'll be looking for you, what should we do?" asked Nikushimi. Yuki's eyes widened.

"I know! We can henge into each other!" Yuki suggested, her eyes wide with excitement at the prospect of not getting caught. Nikushimi shook her head.

"I can't henge!" she admitted while peeking from behind the tree in time to watch two large fireballs crash into each other, following that two figures that Nikushimi could identify as Obito and the small childlike ninja, Iki, went at each other. Meanwhile Kakashi was taking on Saiken and Minato had Kyosei. Rin was nowhere to be seen from Nikushimi's angle.

"What do you mean you can't henge? All ninja can henge, even I can henge!" Yuki whispered in frustration.

"I'm not actually a ninja yet, I'm still in the academy!" Nikushimi snapped. Yuki groaned and hid her face in her knees. Suddenly though, an idea struck her. Yuki gave her a grin and explained her idea to Nikushimi. She went through with her idea before a large explosion sounded causing smoke to fill the area.

Meanwhile Obito was having a tough time against Iki. Despite Iki's small childlike appearance his fire style and explosion style Jutsu hurt. And Obito was unable to hide because Iki was able to sense wherever he was. This was not good.

'I hope Nikushimi's doing fine.' thought Obito as he jumped back and made more hand signs. A large fireball came from his mouth that soon collided with one of Iki's explosion style Jutsu. A large explosion was made and smoke filled the area.

"Is everyone ok?" he heard Rin call as he stood from the small crater the explosion caused.

"I'm fine!" he croaked as he walked over to them.

"Where'd they go?" questioned Kakashi, soon however his question was answered as a loud scream filled the area. Moments later, the screaming ceased and the bushes parted to reveal Nikushimi running out to them.

"Nikushimi, what happened?!" demanded Obito as Kenji ran from his hiding spot, worried over his wife.

"Where's my wife?!" he demanded angrily.

"What happened to Yuki?" asked Minato calmly.

"I'm fine." Nikushimi replied, pulling her bangs back to reveal two amber eyes. Nikushimi was soon surrounded in smoke and a moment later, in place of the amber eyes, was Yuki's familiar emerald ones. Nikushimi's short figure was now Yuki's taller and more womanly figure and It was obvious to the ninja what had happened.

"Wait…. if Yuki is here then…." trailed Rin. Obito made a fist as he gravely spoke.

"They have Nikushimi."

* * *

**AN**

**I've been planning this. I was very excited for this. I even spent a good few days in school drawing some parts of this and what will happen next. Of course I'm not putting any of them up on my deviantart, they came out as doodles. **

**So what do you think? Dramatic? What do you think will happen?**

**Sayonara!**


	6. Taken Captive

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 6_

_Taken Captive_

* * *

"They have Nikushimi."

The silence that followed was heavy and made Yuki feel uncomfortable.

"What happened?" asked Obito quietly, breaking the silence. His facial expression was empty, however one look at his eyes you could tell that he was trying to keep in tears and a yell.

"Well… what happened was…." began Yuki.

* * *

_^Moments Before^_

"_I can henge both of us! My clan has superior chakra abilities that would allow me to transfer my chakra to you and henge you while I henge myself!" Yuki explained excitedly as she put a hand to Nikushimi's forehead. Within moments, Nikushimi found herself looking at a copy of her, only Yuki pushed her bangs out of the way and two amber eyes stared back at her, "The only thing I can't henge is my eyes. When I'm using my charka my eyes turn amber, just like everyone else's in my clan." Yuki allowed the bangs to fall in front of her again and they both peered out from behind the trees. A large explosion sounded as two Jutsus clashed. Smoke filled the area._

"_What happened?" asked Yuki, looking behind the tree. However Nikushimi couldn't respond, for she felt a presence behind her and turned. Behind her, was the most terrifying thing yet. Behind her, was all three of the enemy ninja. Nikushimi was unable to do anything seeing as she was henged, so she did the one thing she could do._

_She screamed._

_She screamed as loud as she could and she desperately tried to jump back however Kyosei reached forward and grabbed her neck. He lifted her up and crushed her throat to the point she was no longer able to scream. The lack of air getting through to her lungs soon made Nikushimi lose consciousness. Saiken and Iki advanced on Yuki, who turned and ran for her life. Most likely deeming her useless, the three ninja left, but unknown to them at that time the girl they took with them was not Yuki, but Nikushimi._

_^Back to Yuki and Team Minato^_

* * *

"And then, here we are." Yuki ended softly. Team Minato was silent for a few moments before someone spoke.

"You… how selfish could you be?" Obito growled, "Nikushimi isn't a ninja yet, she hasn't been in battle yet. If she even tried to fight those ninja… she would die for sure." Obito turned to his sensei, who was carefully hiding his facial expressions.

"Sensei, can we pursue them and rescue Nikushimi?" questioned Obito.

"We have to sensei! Nikushimi is only a little kid!" added Rin. Kakashi snorted.

"It's her own fault for getting captured; I knew it was stupid to bring her with us. She was only going to get killed anyway." Kakashi stated coldly.

"We can't go after Nikushimi." Minato said, causing Obito to clench his fists and Rin's eyes to widen, "It's our mission to escort Yuki and Kenji to Konoha, we can't abandon our mission just for Nikushimi."

"But she's our teammate for this mission!" protested Obito, "If Rin was captured, then wouldn't we go after them? What makes Nikushimi any different?" Minato sighed and went to answer, but Kakashi beat him.

"That situation wouldn't happen, Rin wouldn't get captured." Kakashi said emotionlessly.

"But-!" Obito went to protest again, but Minato held up his hand.

"I'm sorry Obito, but we have to finish our mission, then we can come back and try and rescue Nikushimi." Minato offered. Obito scowled in response.

"They'd kill her by then." he spat. While this exchange was going on, Yuki begin to feel worse and worse.

'Did I do the right thing? That little girl…. she'll die because of me…. if they had captured me they wouldn't have killed me….' Yuki's thoughts trailed. She looked to Kenji who looked passive about the entire thing. She clenched her fists.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, causing the ninja to stop arguing and look at her. She frowned at the ground and then, looked up at them determined, "I'm changing the mission."

"What?!" sputtered Kenji, looking surprised, "What are you doing?"

"The new mission is to rescue Nikushimi, then safely bring Kenji and I to Konoha." Yuki ordered firmly, ignoring Kenji. Obito's face lit up and he looked to his sensei. Minato sighed.

"Well, we'll have to abide by our new orders, let's rest up a little and then we can track them down." Minato decided, sneaking a grin at his students.. Rin and Obito exchanged looks.

'Nikushimi, just you hold on! We're coming, and you better not die on me!' thought Obito.

Meanwhile, with Nikushimi things weren't going so well.

When Yuki had stopped the henge on herself, she also stopped the henge she had on Nikushimi, so as they had been running to their base Nikushimi's henge disappeared.

"What!?" Saiken exclaimed as smoke surrounded them. They looked to what had once been Yuki to find Nikushimi. Nikushimi, who was waking from her unconsciousness, smirked at them.

"Fooled ya…" trailed Nikushimi. She was roughly picked up by the front of her shirt by Kyosei.

"We got the wrong one!" he growled, before he threw her to Saiken. Saiken patted Nikushimi down and took away her weapons pouch, senbon pouch and travel pouch before they continued on. As they traveled through the trees Iki bounced around Saiken, looking at Nikushimi every so often.

"Her chakra is too low, it's at a deathly state, but she's not dead. Its weird." he muttered to himself as he peered at Nikushimi again.

"What do you mean?" asked Saiken slowly as she maneuvered Nikushimi so she could continue to follow Kyosei.

"I mean, she's alive, obviously, but her chakra is so low that she should be dead!" Iki explained, throwing his arms out.

"If it's at a deathly state, then how is she alive?" questioned Saiken. Iki frowned and observed Nikushimi who was shooting him a glare but saying nothing.

Nikushimi knew how captive situations worked because she listened in the academy. When in a captive situation, don't provoke your captor, they might kill you. Don't try and escape while they're moving either because they will pursue and when they catch you they may kill you or they will capture you again. Go along for the most part with what they say, unless it's dire enough where you have to disobey.

Nikushimi was also staying silent because she was planning. She was taking note of where they were going and every once in awhile; she would drop a senbon discreetly from one of her hidden places she could reach without them noticing. Her plan was to lead her teammates to where they were going because, if Obito was observant enough, he would notice her senbon. Then, she was taking note of where they were going so if she managed to escape on her own, she would be able to make her way back to where she knew how to get back to the village.

"I don't really know, there are various reasons, but none of them are realistic." Iki finally answered after some thinking. Saiken raised a single white eyebrow.

"And they are?" she asked quietly.

"She could be a zombie." Iki chirped before laughing at the irritated expression that overcame Saiken's face. Iki rushed forward to avoid the wind that suddenly slashed where he had been moments before.

"Do not fool around you two!" Kyosei growled and Saiken stopped instantly and regained her cool composure. Iki stuck his tongue out at her but turned around and focused on running.

'He's easily distracted,' noted Nikushimi while looking at Iki, she looked over to Kyosei, 'And he's easily agitated it seems.' Nikushimi moved her head to she could somewhat look at Saiken, 'And she's rather slow in responding with words, she thinks carefully on what she says, however I can't find a real weakness on her yet.'

Nikushimi decided that it felt like forever before they reached the enemy stronghold. It was a large stone building that looked like an old abandoned war fort that was most likely used in one of the previous two wars.

'We're nowhere near any hidden villages, so that means that any attacks on the fort will be by Obito, Minato, Rin, and Kakashi.' Nikushimi decided as her three captors entered through the large gate. A few ninja that held no importance were there, they all seemed like low level though and they all wore uniforms, unlike Saiken, Iki, and Kyosei.

"I shall bring her to the cell area." Saiken told Kyosei, who nodded his approval. Saiken easily carried Nikushimi into the stronghold before going through twisting hallways, through doors, and down a staircase before they reached the prison.

Saiken opened the dark door and threw Nikushimi in harshly. Nikushimi grunted as she landed and only watched as Saiken closed and locked the cell door. Nikushimi looked at her surroundings.

The cells were all heavy bricks of what Nikushimi thought to be either stone or cement. There were no prison bars, but instead more cement. Light leaked in from the only hole in the cell, which was a slot in the door that was covered by thick bars so that Nikushimi would barley be able to squeeze her arm through. And it was also rather high up, Nikushimi was barely able to look out of it even while on her toes. Although that may have just been because Nikushimi was rather… short.

When Nikushimi managed to look out of the hole she found that across from the door in the hallway was a table. On the table was Nikushimi's bag of shuriken, her senbon bag, and her extra travel pouch.

Nikushimi sighed and sat down in the corner. In the other dark corner a small hole in the ceiling dripped water into a puddle. When Nikushimi had taken a quick glance around the cell, she had at first thought it was a puddle of blood, but a closer inspection led it to be water, much to Nikushimi's relief.

"What am I going to do?" murmured Nikushimi to herself as she played with her hair. Throughout her rough treatment her hair tie had fallen out and now her long hair was all over in messy strands. She had pushed her bangs out of the way when she had gotten into the cell and she checked to see if she had any hidden senbon left. She didn't, having used them all as a trail and now all she could do was sit and wait.

Things were not going well.

With Obito and the others, they were having a small amount of trouble. Kenji was yelling because he didn't want Yuki going near the enemy but Yuki was stubbornly insisting that she could help. Kakashi was getting very annoyed while Obito was yelling back at Kenji. Rin and Minato were trying to settle everyone down, however it was a very tough job.

"Would shut up already, old man?! We're going to go now! So shut your damn mouth!" yelled Obito, scowling at Kenji.

"I am not letting my Yuki be put in any danger! I refuse!" snapped Kenji, looking ready to kill Obito.

"Screw that, Nikushimi is in danger! Yuki herself said that we're going, so we're going!" barked Obito.

"Well I'm the man so I say we're not!" screamed Kenji. Yuki got involved in the conversation now.

"Excuse me? Just because you're a man does not mean you have a greater say, we're going or else you'll be sleeping on the couch!" she snapped.

"Ha!" Obito pointed at Kenji.

"Please just calm down guys!" Rin tried, however Minato shook his head at her.

"Just let them yell, they'll settle it eventually." he told her calmly. It took a few more minutes of yelling between the three before Kenji finally gave in after Yuki threatened that he would be sleeping outside for a year. It was obvious that she wouldn't follow through on the threat, but it did the job.

"Ok, so what way did they go Yuki?" questioned Minato after making sure there would be no more yelling and fighting. Yuki pointed north.

"They took off in that direction." she informed them. Minato nodded.

"Alright, now, so that we can move faster I request that you and Kenji allow us to carry you…." Minato requested.

"Alright." Yuki agreed. Kenji, however disagreed.

"There's a snowballs chance in Hell that I'm letting someone carry me." Kenji growled. Obito turned to yell at him; however Rin threw a hand over his mouth.

"I'll carry Yuki," Rin offered, "Since it may be awkward for her to be carried by a boy, then Minato-sensei can carry you so that no one would drop you." Kenji, after a few silent moments thinking, agreed. Then finally they were off.

As they went north Obito observed the area. He knew that Nikushimi would do something to help them out. Because he knew that she knew he would make sure they went after her.

"What are you looking for, Obito?" questioned Rin as they moved quickly through the trees.

"A trail, Nikushimi is smart so she probably left a trail for us to follow. I just don't know what she would, or could leave." Obito answered, and Rin nodded.

"I see, if she left a trail what do you think she would leave?" Rin asked.

"Maybe her hair?" suggested Minato, thinking of his wife and when she had left a trail of red hair when she had been kidnapped years before.

"No, Nikushimi doesn't care much for her hair and it wouldn't be noticeable since its three colors, silver, black, and dark red. They're not noticeable colors." Obito replied, frowning.

"What about senbon?" Kakashi asked blankly, jumping down to the ground. Everyone stopped and watched as Kakashi pick up a senbon from its place thrown on the ground.

"Nikushimi must have left that." Obito announced, grinning, "Her senbon are her main weapon. She's been training me in them, so she'd know that I'd recognize they're hers! We're going the right way!"

"Then let's keep moving, and look for senbon!" Minato ordered. They sped up and as they continued along, they picked up senbon. After some time of running they stopped, but not because they were tired.

"Something's coming." Kakashi warned them and Minato and Rin let Yuki and Kenji down.

"Make a formation around Yuki and Kenji." ordered Minato. Obito, Kakashi, and Rin stood around Kenji and Yuki who were back to back. Minato stood in front of them, waiting and listening.

"Wind Style, Vacuum Sphere Jutsu!" From the direction they had been heading the trees parted and gusts of wind came out.

"Dodge it!" ordered Minato as he grabbed the heavier of their two clients, Kenji, and jumped behind a tree for cover. Kakashi followed after him, leaving Rin and Obito to deal with Yuki. Rin and Obito both grabbed Yuki and went to jump out of the way, however from beneath them the earth split.

"Earth Style, Earth Manipulation Jutsu!"

Rin and Obito were thrown off balanced and using their chakra to keep their feet planted they shielded Yuki to the best of their ability from the incoming air.

The air sliced into them leaving wounds along their backs. The air that got past them to Yuki cut her along her face and her arms, but the rest of her was unharmed.

"Ow!" Yuki cried, but no one cared because they had bigger problems.

"Earth Style, Swamp Creature Jutsu!"

From beneath them muddy hands gripped at them. The ground turned to mud and the three of them began to sink in as Saiken appeared in clearing.

"Water Style, Foam Scattered Waves Jutsu!"

Saiken put a hand to her mouth and bubbles began to pour out onto the mud, making it even harder to move. Soon though, the mud turned to quicksand and Obito and Rin couldn't get out. They began to sink, the mud arms pulling them down.

"Fire Style, Fireball Jutsu!"

Obito, thinking quickly blew a fireball that was rather small near them. The fireball hardened the mud, the heat cooking the mud. The heat also caused a small figure to jump out of the mud.

"Hot!" Iki shouted as he jumped back by Saiken. Saiken made more hand signs.

"Water Style, Water Whip Jutsu!"

A long stream of water extended off of Saiken's arm and she waved it at the three stuck waist deep in the mud. However Kakashi and Minato jumped out. Kakashi flew at Iki, who jumped back with a grin and Minato landed on top of the mud, using chakra to stay up. The water whip crashed into him and dispersed after knocking him back, however everyone but the enemy ninja were surprised when the water reformed quickly and surrounded the ninja in the ground. Saiken pulled her arm back and the whip pulled Yuki with it. Yuki was thrown across the field and Saiken caught her before knocking her out with a hit to the back of the head. Iki jumped away from his fight with Kakashi and both Iki and Saiken made hand signs.

"Collaboration, Fire Sweep Jutsu!"

Fire erupted from Iki while the wind that Saiken pushed from them made the fire fly up. The large wall of fire flew out all around them. Minato, moving fast, threw one of his specially marked kunai out of the field. Then he pulled out another one and held it in front of him, prepared for the wall of fire.

The heat baked the mud as it traveled over it but once it reached Minato, he used the seal on his kunai to transport it to the kunai he had thrown away. Unfortunately, the range of the Jutsu was great so Minato, Obito, and Rin were still burned by the great heat and some stray flames that had managed to reach them.

Smoke surrounded the field and steam from the baked mud made it hard to see. Minato quickly helped his two stuck students from the mud and Kakashi joined them. He was unscathed from his battle with Iki and he had avoided the fire by covering behind a tree.

"Yuki has been captured." sighed Rin sadly as they looked around to find that Saiken and Iki had disappeared along with Yuki.

"Now look what you did! My Yuki is gone because you had to chase after your little brat!" shouted Kenji, coming out from his hiding spot behind a large, now charred tree.

"We'll get both of them back!" Obito yelled, "We just have to hurry!"

"Kenji, don't argue." Minato ordered sharply as he grabbed Kenji and they started off again, this time faster than they had been going before.

With Nikushimi, she felt like she had been in the cell forever. Her eyes had adjusted completely to the cell and she decided that if she saw any light, her eyes would burn since they were so used to the darkness now. Also, after being in the cell for awhile she learned that it smelled bad, and there was mold and moss in a few areas that didn't help the pungent odor.

Suddenly, the large, heavy metal door was thrown open and a body was thrown in. The light that came with the opening of the door burned Nikushimi's eyes, much like she had predicted.

"Ouch! Son of a…" Nikushimi paused though when the door was pulled shut and she looked at the body. Golden waves and curls were flowing around the limp body and a ripped green kimono covered them. Bruises were all over their body and cuts lingered along their arms, "…Yuki?"

Nikushimi slowly stood and walked over to the body. She rolled it over onto its back and pushed the hair from its face.

"Yuki." Nikushimi nodded to herself, then frowned.

"If Yuki is here….. That means that…. what happened to Obito, and Rin, and Minato, and Kakashi and Kenji?" Nikushimi's heart skipped a beat and she started worrying. But suddenly, something else worried her.

"If they have Yuki…. what will they do to us now?" Nikushimi looked up at the metal door and bit her lip.

"This is very bad."

* * *

**AN**

**I'm tired. I've had softball tryouts for the school team all week, and I've had softball practice for my out of school league team right after those tryouts. I am tired, and I have no free time because I also have schoolwork and sleep. FML.**

**So review, how'd you like the chapter? I know my fighting scenes suck. And what do you think is going to happen?**

**Sayonara!**


	7. Battle at the Stronghold

_**Crimson Stained **_

_Chapter 7_

_Battle at the Stronghold_

* * *

"Yuki, wake up already!" Nikushimi was shaking Yuki roughly, trying to get the blonde woman to wake up. However she was not waking up no matter what Nikushimi did.

"Ugh, what else can I do to wake her?" wondered Nikushimi, looking around wildly. Finally, her eyes settled on the puddle in the corner. She dragged Yuki over and splashed some of the dirty water onto Yuki's face. After three more splashes, Yuki's eyes opened slowly and her emerald orbs came into view.

"Yuki!" Nikushimi shook her again and Yuki snapped out of her daze.

"…Nikushimi?"Yuki asked in surprise upon noticing the small girl who was shaking her. Nikushimi stopped shaking Yuki and nodded.

"That's my name, and you're finally awake! I spent forever trying to wake you up!" Nikushimi informed her. Yuki looked around and noticed the dark, dreary stone walls.

"Where are we?" questioned Yuki as she used the wall to stand. Nikushimi stood also and led Yuki over to the door here Yuki peered out.

"I don't know where exactly, but we're in a prison cell that those three enemy ninja brought me to, they threw you in some time ago... what happened?" Nikushimi responded as Yuki looked back down at the short girl.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" inquired Yuki as she leaned against the wall and slid down it. She pulled her knees to her chest.

"No, my weapons and other things are out on the table in the hall, and the hidden senbon I had on me I used as a trail for you guys to follow…. what happened? Are Obito, Rin, and Minato ok? And Kakashi and Kenji?" Nikushimi replied, repeating her question.

"They knocked me out, but what I last remember is that Rin and Obito were stuck in sinking mud, Kenji, Minato, and Kakashi were covering behind some trees." Yuki reported. Nikushimi sighed.

"Well, we'll have to assume that the worst happened, we need to find a way to escape, you have ninja abilities, what can you do?" questioned Nikushimi sharply.

"I can use my chakra well, um, besides henging I can create a clone for a brief time and I can do the basic horizontal wall climbing and I can walk on water." Yuki answered, thinking hard.

"That's it?" interrogated Nikushimi, sounding disappointed.

'If that's it…. then we're in much worse trouble. I can't use Jutsu, and they know Yuki's henge trick so they'll be prepared….' Nikushimi thought, slightly worried.

"I'm afraid so…. my clan can do much more, but I never trained myself enough to do more." Yuki sighed. Nikushimi also sighed and leaned her head back against the cool stone.

"All we can do now then," Nikushimi spoke solemnly, "Is pray that they rescue us before they come down here and kill us." Yuki stayed silent, before she shook her head.

"I suppose that I should tell you the whole story, after all, it's my fault we're in this mess…." trailed Yuki.

"What whole story?" questioned Nikushimi. Yuki took a deep breath.

"I am the daughter of the head of the Nōryoku clan; it's not a well known clan because our abilities aren't that extravagant. The Kekkei-Genkai of my clan is good chakra control and abilities, as you can see even though I am a civilian I am rather graceful, that is because of the training I had when I was younger. Then, my henging abilities, only my clan would be able to create a flawless henge like that on another being that quickly." Yuki explained.

"Go on." encouraged Nikushimi. Yuki took yet another deep breath to calm herself.

"When I was seventeen, ten years ago, I met a sweet and handsome man, that was Kenji." Yuki paused to watch Nikushimi make a gagging sound, but then started again when Nikushimi stopped, "Kenji had been in the village to sell things from a smaller village. Our meeting was chance, and somehow fate had us continue meeting. After some time, we fell in love. However….. My father was not happy with this." Nikushimi nodded.

'Clans are horrible like that; they prefer inbreeding to keep their bloodline pure and strong. The head, and the heads child, and the child of the heads child would be expected to marry in the clan and produce more children so that there would be only clan influence.' Nikushimi thought. Yuki sighed, and a small smile appeared on her face.

"He didn't want me to love Kenji, he wanted pure blooded children, I was supposed to marry and produce heirs with a man who looked like he could be my brother with his gold hair and green eyes…." trailed Yuki, a hand resting on her stomach as she stared off in thought. She suddenly snapped though from her thoughts and a face of realization and fear crossed her features, "Oh… God…no."

"What?!" demanded Nikushimi.

"Oh, no… no, Nikushimi, we need to get out of here, now! We can't wait for help!" Yuki whispered urgently.

"Why?" questioned Nikushimi sharply.

"Because! The leader of those three ninja…. it's been years since I've seen anyone from my clan but that man… Kyosei…" trailed Yuki fearfully. Nikushimi's eyes widened, understanding.

"That means…" Nikushimi looked over to the door when she heard footsteps approaching their cell, "The man with the strange shuriken… he's the man you were supposed to marry."

The door flew open before them and Nikushimi stood in front of Yuki as the figure stepped in.

"Yuki…. welcome home." purred the figure, an older blonde man with graying hair stood there. Nikushimi's fear dropped slightly, she had been afraid that the approaching person was Kyosei. The man's emerald eyes met with Nikushimi's strange crimson ones, and a sick grin spread across his face.

"Seems like you've brought along… unnecessary baggage." The old man moved forward faster than Nikushimi thought he would be able to and she was picked up by the front of her shirt.

"No! Nikushimi!" Yuki scrambled to her feet but was too late for the man threw Nikushimi into the wall. A sickening crack was heard and Nikushimi fell to the ground in a heap with a soft thud. Yuki's eyes widened as blood dribbled from the corners of Nikushimi's mouth, and she didn't get up.

"Nikushimi!" Yuki went to run to Nikushimi's side; however the man gripped her by her arm. Yuki glanced at Nikushimi, but turned a fearful look to the man.

"You've done a good job hiding yourself. You knew that we couldn't take you back in your village because of the village police force, but when you left the village with an escort, you didn't realize that I'd send Kyosei after you. That was your downfall, daughter." Yuki looked up at her father, her eyes watering but not shedding tears.

"…Why?...Why can't you accept Kenji and I…?" whispered Yuki.

"That filthy mongrel? He isn't of ninja blood, worthless, you are my only heir and so your first born child will be of the clan, after my use of you is done, I'll kill you myself for disobeying me." growled Yuki's father before he turned and left through the iron door. He closed it behind him and the click of the lock sounded leaving Yuki in silence.

Yuki slowly crawled over to Nikushimi who had yet to move.

"…Nikushimi…?" Yuki shook Nikushimi gently, "Please… wake up." Yuki shook her a little more and Nikushimi's eyes open a little. Yuki was slightly frightened at first when seeing her strange eyes, but didn't say anything. Nikushimi blinked and sat up slowly, her bangs sliding in front of her face. However after a moment Nikushimi moved them out of the way again. She wiped away the blood on the sides of her mouth with her hand, staining her bandaged hands with blood.

"Damn, that old man's fit." Nikushimi murmured as she cracked her neck loudly. Yuki winced at the noise and watched Nikushimi stand and walk over to the cell door. She peered out.

"Well…. it looks like we're alone down here so we can try anything really… I don't have any tricks up my sleeves for this situation though…. All we really can do is wait." Nikushimi surmised.

"So we need to be rescued." Yuki sighed. Nikushimi flashed her a grin.

"Don't worry; I know for a fact that Obito will come for me, I know it!" Nikushimi announced cheerfully. But even so, in her heart, she had worry seeping through.

'Obito… please hurry.'

Some time later, Team Minato and Kenji arrived at the enemy stronghold. They had to stop every once in awhile on the way because of their injuries, Minato, Obito, and Rin had burns that slowed them down slightly.

"Let me heal you guys before we go in." Rin ordered as they sheltered behind a rock. As Rin healed Obito Minato and Kakashi observed the stronghold.

"They have heavy guards…. I see at least fifteen on top of the wall, who knows how many inside." Minato informed everyone.

"And who knows how powerful they are." Kakashi added.

"I think we should plan carefully on what we do, we could use someone as a distraction while the rest of us slip in." Rin suggested.

"No, that would be too dangerous, however the stronghold is large, we are going to have to split up." Minato sighed as he said this though, "However this is going to be very dangerous so I'm wary about that…"

"Sensei," Obito said seriously, "Nikushimi is in there. As soon as I can, I'm finding a way in there to at least try and find them. Kakashi and Rin can go as a group, and then you and Kenji, I'll focus on finding Nikushimi and Yuki while you guys make a distraction." Minato sighed again.

"Obito, you can't go alone-" Obito interrupted him.

"I wouldn't be alone once I find Nikushimi and Yuki, Nikushimi was probably stripped of her senbon but she can fight when we get them back, and Yuki can henge herself." Obito protested. Minato shook his head.

"Obito, if you go alone and engage in combat before you reach them then you wouldn't have an ally's help then, and what if they're already dead? Then it would be pointless." Kenji made a strange, choking sound at the thought of Yuki being dead. Obito looked down at the ground.

'Was I too harsh?' wondered Minato, until he saw Obito clench his fist.

"They are not dead, I know they aren't. Nikushimi promised me she would stay alive, so I know she is alive. And I'll be damned if I don't go and save her!" Obito looked up, and in his eyes Minato swore he could have saw fire.

"Obito…." Rin trailed, "How can you be so sure she's alive?"

"Because Nikushimi promised to stay alive! And she never breaks her promises, just like I never break mine!" Obito barked, although he was much softer in tone to Rin than he was to Minato.

"She's just a little kid, she's dead." Kakashi stated, "Yuki is probably alive, they needed her for something. If it was just to kill her, then why kidnap her first?" Obito glared at Kakashi.

"Nikushimi is alive, you'll see. She's alive, I know it!" Rin finished healing Obito's burns and he sat up with only some rips in his clothes. Rin moved to her sensei and began healing him. Minato sighed at Obito.

"You can try and find a way in, and you can go as long as it isn't a way that involves combat. When I'm healed, we'll attack the front lines and try and kill as many guards as possible by surprise before the real fighting starts, get Yuki to safety then you can help us in combat. Understood?" Minato ordered. Obito nodded.

"I understand." Obito quickly started to dart through the trees, hiding himself from the view of the sentries. He watched the guards cautiously while searching around the stronghold. The stronghold was in the side of a cliff, and probably went further into the cliff and probably underground. The stronghold didn't look very large on the outside, but I was obviously large on the inside.

"This isn't going to be easy." muttered Obito when he heard a splash. He looked down to find that he had stepped in a small stream while he had been searching the cliff for a way in. The water ran towards the stronghold and then stopped, but it was running fast.

"Maybe… does that go into the stronghold?" Obito, watching the sentry on the tower closest to him waited. When he had looked the other way, Obito darted to the wall just out of the sentries view. Then, quickly, Obito got down and stuck his head in the water. What he found, was a hole that led into a pond in the stronghold that most likely was how they got fresh water. Obito took out a kunai and used it to open the hole more until he was able to fit. He crawled through, and although muddy and wet, he was unharmed. He dropped down from the ceiling with only slight noises from the mud on his sandals.

Obito found himself in a somewhat dark area with chains on the walls. Large metal doors were aligned down the left wall while tables were aligned down the right. Obito cautiously walked down the hall, and every once in awhile he would see a blood stain on the stone floor.

'This must be a dungeon or prison….' Obito realized as he continued down the hall. He saw stairs at one end, but suddenly he noticed one of the tables weren't empty. He looked over at it and found that on the table were a few ninja pouches. He picked one up, and found that it was Nikushimi's senbon pouch. It was rather worn, and he was surprised that it still held senbon in it, although it was obvious she used it often and the trip here was probably rough.

'If this is Nikushimi's….' Obito turned to the cell it was in front of. he walked up to it and looked through the small barred window only for another, eerie pair of crimson eyes to peer out at the same time.

"Obito…?Obito!" Nikushimi jumped in the cell happily, "You came! Quick, give me my Senbon so I can pick the lock! And hurry before Kyosei comes down here!" Obit passed her Senbon bag through the small window and she quickly grabbed two Senbon. She leaned down and in about a minute the door had made a clicking sound and Nikushimi exited with Yuki not far behind. Both looked tired, Nikushimi's hair was out of its ponytail and Yuki's clothes were a mess. Blood stains were on Nikushimi's hand bandages, which deeply worried Obito.

"What's going on? Where's everyone else?" questioned Nikushimi, a serious expression dominating her happy one. Obito frowned.

"Once Rin is done healing Minato-sensei then they're going to start a fight upstairs, I have to get Yuki out of here so we can join the fight." Obito explained. Nikushimi nodded.

"Got it, let me grab my tools and we can get moving." Nikushimi walked over to the table and quickly strapped her ninja bags to her before she nodded at Obito, "Let's go."

They quietly made their way up the stairs where Obito sensed for any patrolling guards. When he didn't sense any, they made their way down the hall. Suddenly an explosion shook the stronghold and Yuki almost fell over. A few things fell over and some rocks dislodged themselves from the ceiling.

"Come on, we have to get moving."Nikushimi hissed. They continued on, pausing every time there was a small tremor from the battle taking place outside.

They didn't run into any enemies as they made their way through the stronghold, most likely because they were all assisting at the battle.

"I think we take a right here…" Nikushimi murmured at a turn, as she desperately tried to remember how Saiken had carried her originally to the dungeon.

"Are you sure?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi shook her head and they went right anyway, hopefully Nikushimi was correct.

When they finally found their way out, Nikushimi and Obito were worried. Various large scale tremors had occurred and the stronghold wasn't going to hold up much longer. They were glad to be out, but they were afraid for their comrades who were in the fight.

"Dear God…" whispered Yuki as they took in the battle. Various bodies littered the strongholds courtyard and blood stained the ground. Minato was fighting Yuki's father, while Kakashi and Kyosei faced off. Rin was having a hard time against Iki, who was easily able to sense her while he shook the ground with his earth style every once in awhile to throw her off.

"Nikushimi," Obito looked to Nikushimi, "Promise me again that you won't die." he ordered. Nikushimi nodded.

"I promise that I won't die, as long as you stay safe too." Nikushimi promised. Obito nodded.

"I will, now I'm going to go help Rin." Obito murmured, hurrying over to his comrade, and crush. Nikushimi nodded, although he took no notice.

"Come on; let's get you out of here." Nikushimi said to Yuki before they started to run across the yard. The stronghold's courtyard was mainly destroyed now, although a few bushes and trees were here and there.

"Kya!" Nikushimi just barely managed to pull out a kunai in time to block a sword that had come from seemingly nowhere. Saiken pushed against the sword, trying to overpower the small girl. Nikushimi held back strong though, not letting herself give in. They were matched in power to Nikushimi kicked her leg out, attempting to knock Saiken over or off balance. Saiken jumped over her leg and drew her sword back only to swing her other arm and summon her second sword. Nikushimi jumped back to avoid a strike from Saiken and she took a few senbon between her fingers while her other hand griped the kunai tightly.

"Little brats like you shouldn't be here on a battlefield…. you'll only die by the hands of someone like me." Saiken stated eerily calm as she rushed forward to strike at Nikushimi. Nikushimi threw senbon, expertly aimed for vital points, however Saiken moved her arm and a gust of wind easily blew them away.

'Crap.' Nikushimi thought as she continued jumping back, each step only bringing Saiken, who was faster closer.

"Obito!" yelled Nikushimi as Saiken's sword narrowly missed her nose. Suddenly, a red glow came from their right and Nikushimi hit the ground as a large fireball flew over her, aimed right for Saiken. She grinned, knowing it was Obito, and she backed up until she was beside Obito.

"Alright, what do we do?" questioned Nikushimi. Obito smirked.

"I'll distract her with fireballs, use your senbon to take her out." he ordered. Nikushimi nodded and he began making more hand signs as she ran over to the side. As Saiken dodged fireballs, Nikushimi pulled out senbon. She waited until Saiken was in the right position before she launched the senbon. They entered the side of Saiken's neck and she shuddered once before crumpling to the floor.

"Good job!" Obito praised, but Nikushimi only blinked.

'Did… I just… kill someone?' However her shock left her as Yuki grabbed onto her arm.

"Quick!" Yuki and Nikushimi started running towards the gate, dodging around the trees that grew throughout the courtyard. Obito went over to help Rin once more with Iki.

"Kyosei! Yuki is escaping!" yelled Iki as he sensed Yuki escaping.

"What?!" Kyosei yelled, however he barely avoided a strike from Minato and couldn't do anything.

'We're home free!' Nikushimi thought giddily, however a sudden noise hit her ears. She turned around and could only scream as a sword flew at her. blinding pain went through her as the sword entered her chest and the force sent her into the tree. She was pinned up by the sword that had went straight through hre chest. Blood splattered onto Yuki, who was shocked.

"Nikushimi!" she yelled in horror. Blood dribbled from the corners of Nikushimi's mouth, only this time she didn't move. She hung there, limply. Like a doll almost. Only, this wasn't a doll.

"Nikushimi!" yelled Obito, upon seeing his friend.

"Quick, we need to get over there so I can heal her!" Rin announced, avoiding a hit from Iki who was grinning like a mad man as he watched an irritated Saiken pluck the senbon from her neck.

"That would have killed me…. had I not been a medical ninja or a water and wind specialist." Saiken murmured, looking at the senbon before she snapped it in half and dropped it.

"You ungrateful little brat!" They heard Yuki scream. Her father had jumped from fighting Minato to running towards Yuki. Minato darted in front of him, but couldn't stop him.

"Even if I die, I refuse to have the Nōryoku blood tainted by a bastard child!" he threw a large shuriken, infused in dark amber chakra. Yuki was unable to dodge it in time, and it caught her in her chest. She fell back, the shuriken digging into her.

"Yuki!"gasped Rin.

Kyosei watched as Minato went after yuki's father angrily.

"Saiken, Iki, retreat!" he called, jumping back to the wall where Saiken and Iki joined him. They were going to fall back for now, but when the time was right…. they would strike again.

Obito and Rin rushed to where their fallen friend was, not noticing that the three enemy ninja had left the battle. Rin pulled the sword from Nikushimi and Obito carefully put her down on the ground. Rin's hands glowed green and her face became set in a grim expression as her hands hovered over the girls body.

"What…?" Rin's eyes widened, and Obito frowned.

"What's wrong? Why isn't she being healed?" he demanded. Rin shook her head, holding back tears.

"Her body is rejecting my medical chakra, I can't heal her!" Rin shouted.

"What?!" Obito yelled, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

"Heal Yuki!" they heard Kenji demand, and Rin, rubbing her eyes hurried over to where Kenji had run from cover to his fallen wife. Rin knelt next to Yuki and her hands glowed green again. Rin's eyes widened again, and her face paled.

"Those ninja…. that chakra on their weapons…. Yuki's body is rejecting my medical chakra too!" Rin cried.

"No, you have to heal her! Have to!" growled Kenji picking Yuki's head up and gingerly placing it in his lap.

"Rin, Nikushimi wasn't hit by the chakra though!" Obito pointed out. Rin shook her head.

"Her entire body is rejecting my chakra, I don't know why but I can't do anything with it. I can't heal either of them, and their wounds are fatal! Both of them have vital organs hit, and if that doesn't kill them they're going to bleed out!" Rin explained sadly.

"Bandage Yuki, I'll bandage Nikushimi." Obito ordered and Rin nodded. Obito hurried over to Nikushimi, who had gone a shade paler, if possible.

"Don't worry, Nikushimi…. these bandages will help." He pulled bandages from his med kit but then, he noticed something.

"….Nikushimi?" Obito leaned over and put his head on her chest, listening for her heart beating and her breathing, "Oh no…. Oh God… please no…not this…Nikushimi!"

Nikushimi's chest wasn't rising and falling. He couldn't hear her breathing. He couldn't hear her heart beating. And that was because, her heart wasn't beating.

"Obito, what happened?" called Minato as he appeared next to Obito. It was obvious the old man was dead; otherwise his sensei wouldn't be there. Obito held back tears and couldn't look anywhere but Nikushimi's still bleeding chest.

"N-Nikushimi…s-she's…" Obito tried to explain but couldn't. Minato knelt down and felt for Nikushimi's pulse. He closed his eyes when he felt none.

"What's wrong?" called Rin, hurrying over with her med kit. Minato opened his eyes and looked at Rin.

"Nikushimi is dead."

* * *

**AN**

**I can't wait to see everyone's reactions, what will happen? Is this the end? Will Nikushimi be revived? It could go many different ways here, many different ways.**

**I'll update as soon as I can… I can't wait for your reactions….**

**Sayonara! **


	8. The First Kill

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 8_

_First Kill_

* * *

The ninja sat there solemnly, they could do nothing but watch as their client slowly bled to death, just like their other comrade had. Obito was crying, he was trying to hide it but it was fruitless.

"I can't believe how bad this turned out…. it was going so well…." whispered Rin, her face wet from tears. Kakashi was standing a bit away scoffing at the dead body.

"I told you she'd die." he huffed. Minato was frowning; it had been his job to look after this girl, his job to tell the third Hokage if she was Genin material. And now, she was dead. And it felt like it was his fault for not paying more attention to her during the battle.

And they were failing their mission too. Yuki was dying, if she died, they would fail the mission. Minato sighed and looked up at the sky; this really had ended very badly.

A sudden, low, gurgling sound however caught everyone's attention. A short cough, follow by some sputtering made them look at Nikushimi's corpse.

"…what…?" Rin questioned quietly as the corpse, or what had once been the corpse, coughed up blood. Obito watched as her eyes slid open and she sat up slightly so that her bangs covered her eyes. She fell back weakly, but in a moment was able to sit up.

"Heh… thought something like….that would kill… me? I told….you Obito that…. I'm like a pest, a cockroach…. I'm hard to get rid of…. besides…. I promised you that I wouldn't…. die and I keep my promises…" Nikushimi mumbled slowly.

Minato was astonished. Nikushimi had been dead. Her heart hadn't been beating, she hadn't been breathing, and she had no pulse. How was she alive?!

"You're alive! Oh thank God!" Rin cried. Nikushimi slowly crawled over to where Yuki and Kenji were. Yuki was still unconscious, and Kenji was crying. Nikushimi set herself next to Yuki and from her bag produced a kunai.

'…Is this a good idea?' wondered Nikushimi, holding the kunai in front of her, 'Can I pull it off? I've never been good with Jutsu… only a few clan Jutsu I've been able to do... and this is a powerful technique…'

"Yuki…" Kenji cried, bawling. Had the situation not been so grim, Nikushimi would have laughed from seeing the large brute man bawling like a baby.

'But… I have to try…. I can't just let Yuki die without trying….' Nikushimi's grim expression turned to a determined one as she carefully unwrapped her hands up to her wrists. Team Minato crowded around her and stared at her hands. Scars covered her hand.

'Why are her hands so… scarred?' Rin wondered. Nikushimi made a cut down the middle of her palms deep enough that it began bleeding. She put her hands over Yuki's chest that was rising and falling with her shallow breathes.

"What are you doing?" questioned Minato warily. Nikushimi didn't answer for she was focusing on what she was doing.

'Ketsueki Ketchu Hiru no Jutsu.' Nikushimi thought, making fast hand signs that no one saw clearly enough to recognize.

From under her bangs her eyes began to glow, the black X's and the black circles because to glow and soon were a bright amber rather than the deep black they had been.

"Are your eyes…. glowing?" Obito asked curiously, but he received no answer.

"Nikushimi?" whispered Obito trying to get her to respond, but she once again ignored them. Traveling through her arms Minato could sense more chakra than he had ever felt from Nikushimi before.

'What is she doing? Is this a Jutsu? I thought she couldn't use any Jutsu…' Minato thought, his eyes narrowing as he observed the situation.

Suddenly, a dark red aura covered Nikushimi's hands and the blood that was oozing out slowly was now coming out faster. With her hands glowing she put her hands above Yuki's chest. The red aura entered her and Nikushimi closed her eyes in concentration.

Suddenly, blood began to drip quickly from her hands and the red aura pulled from her hands through the drips into Yuki's body. Yuki began to convulse and make choking noises. Nikushimi scowled and bit her lip as she fought to keep the Jutsu going.

"Nikushimi what are you doing?" demanded Minato. However his question was lost as suddenly, Yuki stopped convulsing and they watched as the red mist hardened making a shell over the rapidly bleeding wound. Nikushimi's hands penetrated the barrier and then, after a few tense moments she pulled her hands back out, dripping with Yuki's blood and her own. The barrier then began to stitch her wound back together and in moments Yuki's wound was gone; not even leaving a scar like normal Medical Ninjutsu would have left for a wound on that scale.

"What…. what did you do?" questioned Rin in amazement. Nikushimi opened her eyes and they stopped glowing as the mist disappeared. Nikushimi grit her teeth though and put her hand to her own wound. Her wound stitched itself up, albeit slower and then Nikushimi slowly stood. She looked at her hands, and couldn't take her eyes off the blood that was dripping down her hands.

'Blood….' Nikushimi looked away and quickly rubbed her hands on her legs, staining those bandages. When her hands were no longer wet with blood she looked at her teammates.

"She'll live…. my clan Jutsu stitched her up…. inside and out…" Nikushimi murmured slowly.

"That was amazing Nikushimi!" Obito complimented cheerfully.

"Nikushimi…. what exactly did you do?" questioned Minato, however his question was left unanswered as he turned to block another large shuriken.

"Damn, we missed them!" Obito muttered, pulling out a kunai as Saiken, Iki and Kyosei descended from where they had been watching up on the stronghold wall.

"Nikushimi, stay back with Kenji and Yuki!" ordered Minato as he jumped forward to fight Kyosei. Obito and Kakashi ran to fight Iki while Rin went to Saiken. Nikushimi nodded and stood in front of Yuki with a kunai.

She desperately tried to watch the fights, but everyone was using chakra to go faster and it was impossible for her to see! She blocked a few stray kunai, and she protected Kenji and Yuki as Kenji tried dragging Yuki away.

"Kyosei! Yuki!" Iki shouted, however his guard was down when he had been sensing for her. Obito had him jump up by shooting a fireball at where he had been standing.

"Missed me!" taunted Iki.

"But I didn't." Kakashi stated from behind him. Iki turned and went to yell, but was cut off as a kunai sliced through him. He fell to the ground with a sickening sound. Blood oozed from him and Obito and Kakashi checked to make sure the sensory type was dead.

Meanwhile Rin was fighting with Saiken. Saiken was faring well, although she was trying to help Kyosei while fighting Rin. Saiken was a better offensive type than Rin, however Rin's defense was better than Saiken's.

"Saiken!" shouted Kyosei. Saiken nodded and abruptly changed her course from rushing at Rin to attack to flying over to where Nikushimi was guarding Yuki and Kenji.

Saiken brought her sword down on Nikushimi's kunai, however Nikushimi held strong. From her pouch she pulled out another and swung at Saiken who jumped up and did a flip before bringing the sword back down towards Nikushimi's head. Nikushimi bent backwards, landing in a handspring before she kicked up and before Saiken could block, Nikushimi's foot made contact with her face. Saiken was knocked off balance and it gave Nikushimi enough time to rush forward and plunge a kunai into Saiken.

"Guh…." Saiken made a few strange choking noises as blood leaked from the corners of her mouth. Blood gushed from her wound onto Nikushimi who had yet to remove the kunai from Saiken's chest.

"I hit her in the heart.' Nikushimi noted to herself numbly. She pulled the kunai out, and then dropped it. She watched as Saiken fell backwards onto the ground, and convulsed a little before her chest rose shallowly and then fell. When it didn't rise again, Nikushimi knew that she had killed her.

'So…' Nikushimi looked down at her hands in slight horror, 'So… much blood.'

"Nikushimi!" Obito and Rin rushed over and Obito shook her shoulder, trying to knock her from her trance. However she couldn't stop staring at the blood that stained her hands.

'Blood….blood. I killed someone…' A fleeting pain sliced through Nikushimi's head and she gripped her head.

Flashes went through her heads, death, blood, pain, hatred. Nikushimi wanted the pain that these visions were giving her to go away! And the visions…. some she recognized, others she didn't. But the visions had her mind wheeling and emotion run through her.

"G-gah!" Nikushimi yelled. Suddenly the pain disappeared and her eyes widened before they rolled back into her head and she fell unconscious. Obito caught her and he stared at her wide eyed.

"Nikushimi!" Obito cried, turning to Rin, "What's wrong with her?!"

Across the clearing Minato and Kyosei stood, kunai's pressed against each other. Both looked over and Kyosei scowled when he saw that those… those brats had killed Saiken and Iki. And Yuki was still alive. Kyosei jumped back, disengaging from Minato. Kyosei took off, disappearing into the forest. Minato rushed over to where his team was.

"What's wrong?" he demanded of Rin who was checking Nikushimi over.

"She's fatigued; I also think the shock of killing someone was too much. We should hurry back to the village to get her, and Yuki, to the hospital." Rin answered, her mouth set in a small frown as she tried to get a better look at Nikushimi. But Nikushimi's body continued to reject Rin's chakra, so Rin was unable to do anything and was only able to guess.

"Alright, Kenji, I'll carry you, Rin, you carry Yuki, Obito, carry Nikushimi." ordered Minato, when they were set he nodded, "Let's go."

They flew through the trees at high speeds and didn't stop to rest at all even though they were injured too. When they reached the village they sped through the gate and went to the hospital where they checked Nikushimi and Yuki in.

"Will Nikushimi be ok?" asked Obito as he watched the stretcher that Nikushimi was on get wheeled away. Minato just ruffled Obito's hair.

"She'll be fine." he replied confidently before he turned to Rin, Kenji, and Kakashi.

"We should go make our mission report now. Kenji, please come with us." Minato led his team to the Hokage's office, but the entire time Obito and Rin were distracted, thinking of Nikushimi and Kenji was distracted by thinking of Yuki.

_^A Few Days Later^_

Nikushimi woke up, her eyes opening slowly. Everything was blurry at first, but then everything cleared and she shut her eyes.

'Too much white!' she thought irritably. She opened her eyes again, letting them adjust to the white before she looked around. She was hooked up to a beeping machine, and most of the room was a clean, sterile white. Nikushimi shifted in the uncomfortable blanket and frowned.

'A hospital…. great.' Nikushimi sighed. She hated hospitals, she hated going to them and if she could avoid them completely she would. Doctors just weren't her favorite people in the world, needles weren't the best tools in the world, and all the clean and sterile white places were just plain annoying.

Nikushimi sat in the room for what seemed like forever to her. No one came to see her and she didn't want to see any nurses so she didn't press the nurse button. Looking around a few things were on her bedside table. Nikushimi grabbed them and looked at them. Her senbon bag was there with her other bags and her clothes folded neatly. Then a few get well cards were there and there was a vase of flowers that Nikushimi didn't pick up. Pink roses, peonies and yarrow were in the vase.

'Don't flowers mean things?' wondered Nikushimi as she thought back to when she had been young and her mother tried teaching her about flowers, 'Um, red roses are love I think… and Forget-Me-Not's are remember me forever, so… ' Nikushimi pouted.

"Agh, I can't even name what flowers those are, other than the pink roses…."Nikushimi muttered to herself with a frown. Suddenly however her door opened and Nikushimi grinned when she saw her best friend enter.

"Hey, you're awake finally!" Obito realized as he looked over at the bed. Nikushimi grinned.

"Finally! Do you know how bored I was? I was even trying to remember what flowers mean!" Nikushimi informed him, while gesturing to the vase. Obito laughed.

"Oh, Rin and I got those, she had to explain to me what they meant but pink roses are friendship, yarrow is good health, and peonies are for healing." Obito told her proudly. Nikushimi nodded, committing those facts to memory.

"Well, thanks." Nikushimi grinned at Obito who walked over to her bed and sat down on the chair next to it.

"So how long was I out for?" questioned Nikushimi.

"A few days… three I think." Obito answered. Nikushimi frowned.

"That's three days I could have been training." Nikushimi pouted.

"You don't need much training; I think you did pretty good on the mission. Anyway, how are you feeling?" Obito inquired. Nikushimi moved around a bit to see.

"I feel perfectly fine, I did heal myself at the stronghold. I guess it was fatigue that knocked me out." Nikushimi surmised. Then she frowned and held her arms out. Her arms still had their bandages on, except for where they had moved the bandages to insert an IV into her arm.

"Why didn't they remove my bloody bandages?" inquired Nikushimi. Obito frowned.

"Apparently, you unconsciously put up a fight so they left them on." Obito answered with a shrug, "All I really saw though was a nurse with a bloody nose walk out of your room, then Minato-sensei went in to see what was going on and that's how I know that you didn't want your bandages off." Nikushimi nodded.

"Ah, yeah that would be very typical, I passed out from mainly shock, so my body was also in a defensive mode of sorts, I suppose." Nikushimi decided, still nodding.

"Anyway, what you did back there, with Yuki… that was amazing! And then you managed to kill that woman too, you did great for your first mission!" Obito praised. Nikushimi's smile faltered slightly, but she did appreciate the praise.

"Yeah… I killed her…" Nikushimi then frowned at her lap. Obito put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be so down Nikushimi, you had to kill her," Obito comforted Nikushimi, "If you didn't kill her she would have killed you, then Yuki, then maybe me, or Rin, or Kakashi or even Minato-sensei. It's a job of a ninja to kill bad ninjas like that, so you id good. Don't regret doing it." Nikushimi nodded, trusting Obito's word.

"Alright." she nodded, making a determined face.

'Obito is right, I can't let death have that much of an effect over me, because if I want to be a ninja, I have to kill!' Nikushimi unconsciously made a fist before she grinned at Obito.

"So, when do you think I can leave the hospital?" Nikushimi questioned. Obito frowned.

"You should hoe soon, because hospital food sucks." Obito informed her. Nikushimi groaned.

"Well I actually have to head off now because we're going off on a quick mission, I'll visit you when I get back ok?" Obito said, checking the time on the wall clock. He stood, and Nikushimi watched him leave.

"Great… now I'm left to my thoughts." Nikushimi sighed and closed her eyes.

'Should I be ashamed to have killed someone?' Nikushimi wondered as she rested, 'Obito did say that it was the right thing to do… but killing someone…. no matter who you kill… is it really right?'

Nikushimi felt a pang in her heart.

'Killing… it is the job of a ninja, so I have no choice… I'd better get used to it. They say time heals all wounds, so I suppose my doubt will go away after some time…' Nikushimi felt her conscious start to slip into sleep and allowed it to take over her.

Her first mission had gone rather well, after all, only the enemy had casualties.

* * *

**AN  
So Nikushimi lived, if you had doubts on that, then you should know that in chapter 1, when Kakashi was looking at the picture, he said he knew she was out there somewhere, and he also seemed to have a good relationship with her, which he doesn't in this chapter or the last chapter.**

**In other news, the First Mission arc has ended, the next arc starts next chapter.**


	9. Genin

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 9_

_Genin _

* * *

Nikushimi frowned at the tray in front of her. She had been in the hospital for two days after she woke up, and she hadn't eaten the hospital food after taking her first bite and spitting it out quickly. But they still gave it to her and she would have to make it look like she ate some of it by taking it and putting some in a napkin that went in the garbage soon after.

"This sucks, I'm starving." Nikushimi muttered to herself as she grabbed her spoon and took a spoonful of mashed potatoes before dropping them into the napkin in her hand, making a face when she noticed that it was slightly hard.

"Eewwwww!" she hissed making sure to wrap it up in the napkin good before she threw it across the room into the garbage. She always made it in, seeing as how she was a ninja after all. And to add to her slowly worsening mood, her stomach growled loudly.

Nikushimi looked up from her food when she heard the door open. Obito trouped in with Rin behind him, Obito swinging a small basket.

"Hey Nikushimi!" called Obito as he walked over and plopped the basket down next to her. She took one look in, and her eyes widened under her bangs.

"Obito… I love you." she stated as she grabbed an apple from in the basket and took a large, noisy bite from it, sating her still slightly growling stomach. Rin laughed and Obito shook his head as they watched Nikushimi devour her apple ravenously.

"I love you too Rin, you probably had a hand in this." Nikushimi added between bites. When she finished the apple, she threw the apple core into the trashcan, then she grabbed another apple.

"We figured you hadn't been eating, so we both got you the apples." Rin explained with a smile as she took the chair next to Nikushimi's bed while Obito sat on the bed next to Nikushimi.

"Ah, well, you figured correctly, honestly, I thought hospitals were supposed to save people, not slowly poison and kill them." Nikushimi complained before she took a bite of her apple.

"Are you even allowed to have outside food?" questioned Rin, the thought occurring to her. Nikushimi paused, Rin did have a point. Although, Nikushimi wasn't sure if she was allowed to have outside food or not.

"Well," she took another bite of her apple, "I would have to fight whoever takes them away from me." Obito snorted and grabbed for her basket to test this. Nikushimi reacted almost instantly, grabbing her chopsticks from her hospital tray and using them to jab at his hands. He pulled his hand back quickly, barely avoiding his hands being stabbed by chopsticks. Rin laughed at their antics.

"You two are so in sync with each other," she commented, making the two stare at her, "Obito, you try and do something and Nikushimi reacts instantly, like she knows what you're doing beforehand."

"Really? I suppose I do know what he's going to do, I guess, really and it's usually right because of how close we are." Nikushimi replied thoughtfully, not even looking as she tried to stab Obito's hand that was sneaking towards her basket again. Then, she took a loud bite from her apple that her other hand was holding.

"I think it's nice that you two are like that." Rin decided, and Obito grinned as he once again pulled his hand back to avoid getting stabbed.

"Nikushimi's really good at knowing things like that, like when I slack off in training she knows, and when I'm going to be late-" Nikushimi cut in.

"Which is always! You're always late Obito! Which is why I set the times to be earlier than they really are so that I won't be standing there forever!" huffed Nikushimi.

"Eh heh heh… sorry?" Obito tried. Nikushimi tried to keep a straight face, but started laughing after a few seconds of Obito looking at her sheepishly.

However she stopped when the door reopened, catching their attention. Two people entered the room, one was Minato, and the other was the Third Hokage. Minato's brow rose upon seeing his two students.

"You two are fast," he commented, "You two got here rather quickly." Obito grinned.

"We came to check up on Nikushimi, and rescue her from hospital food." Obito announced, gesturing towards Nikushimi who froze when the attention was on her as she was about to take a bite. She stopped, mouth wide open and apple about an inch from her mouth. Obito laughed at her expression.

"And to tease her over it, Obito, you've almost been stabbed multiple times from trying to take it from her." Rin added with a small smile and humor glittering in her eyes.

"Well, you two are going to have to leave for a little now, Lord Third and I have to speak with Nikushimi." Minato ordered them gently. Rin nodded and left after bidding Nikushimi a cheerful goodbye.

"See you later Nikushimi!" called Obito waving as he left quickly running after Rin. Meanwhile, Minato leaned on the wall by her bed and the Third Hokage took the chair Rin had vacated.

"So we wanted to ask you something…" Minato began, and Nikushimi's heart beat picked up.

'He's going to ask about my Jutsu, isn't he!?' Nikushimi already knew.

"When you healed Yuki, you used a Jutsu. You supposedly are unable to use chakra; can you explain what you did? Your healing was flawless, Yuki was fine, and there was no scarring at all, not even the best medic can do that." Minato asked carefully. Nikushimi frowned.

"I can't say much… it's my clan Jutsu, so its top secret!" Nikushimi informed them. The Third Hokage nodded.

"That is fine, but tell us what you can." he said, slight curiosity in his voice. Nikushimi grinned at him.

"Well, my Kekkei-Genkai is what stops my chakra flow, I need to train really hard because once I can unlock my Kekkei-Genkai, I can use my chakra freely. Right now, I can barely summon any chakra, I can keep training to help that, but I think Kekkei-Genkai training is more important." Nikushimi explained, "And then, there are different forms of my clan's Kekkei-Genkai, there's the regular form, and the other form. Regular form is common and easy to get through for most people, then the uncommon form only happens once every few decades or so, it is hereditary but my clan always killed the one with that ability because it was also known as a curse. The one with the uncommon form never lived past the age of five."

"A curse?" questioned Minato. Nikushimi nodded.

"The one who held the ability, if they unlocked it, would sacrifice many things for the great power it possesses, and once you unlock it, there is no way of changing things." Nikushimi lectured with a serious expression on her face.

"So are you the common form, or the uncommon form?" inquired the Hokage. Nikushimi frowned.

"I'm afraid I've told you all I can, anything else will give my clan secrets away." Nikushimi stated.

"Can you tell us about the Jutsu you used to heal Yuki?" asked Minato. Nikushimi sighed.

"That Jutsu is one of the things that are kept hidden, so no, I can't tell you about it." Nikushimi explained.

"I see… well I have good news, two things in fact." the Hokage informed her cheerfully. Nikushimi blinked.

"What are they?" she questioned.

"One is that you're being discharged and a nurse is coming in to unhook you once Minato and I leave." he replied, and then he smiled when he saw Nikushimi smile.

"Yes! Real food!" Nikushimi cheered, Minato chuckled at her antics.

"Now, the second thing, I think you're ready." the Hokage said seriously. Nikushimi's eyes widened.

'No way… could it be…?' she wondered excitedly.

"Ketsueki Nikushimi, from this day forward you are now an official Genin of the Hidden Leaf Village." and from his robes the Third Hokage produced a Leaf village forehead protector. He handed it to Nikushimi who stared at it with wide eyes as she held it in her hands.

"Are you serious?" she asked quietly, before looking up at him sharply, her hair bouncing out of the way to show her eyes, "Am I really a Genin now?" Minato and the Hokage were slightly stunned at her eyes at first, but they easily shook their shock off.

"Yes, you'll be put on a team and you'll meet up with them a week from today." he explained, and Nikushimi felt ready to cry tears of joy.

'I'm a ninja!' Nikushimi thought giddily, barely noticing Minato and the Hokage bid their goodbyes as they left. She also barely noticed the nurse come in and take out her IV. Finally, she snapped out of her trance and changed into a pair of clothes that someone had probably gotten for her, it was her usual pair of dark shorts and a dark colored tank top. Then she left after grabbing her weapon pouches from the bedside table drawer.

She quickly rushed down the white halls of the hospital, eager to get out of there. As she exited, she rushed to the street and grinned upon smelling the fresh air.

'Ahh, no more hospital!' Nikushimi went to go and find a place to eat, but was stopped.

"Nikushimi!" she turned quickly upon hearing Obito calling for her. He jogged up to her, grinning.

"You've been discharged already? That's great, you were there for longer than most ninja would need." he teased. Nikushimi pouted.

"Well, I had been unconscious, and my wound healed faster than you would heal!" Nikushimi huffed. Obito just grinned at her and ruffled her hair.

"Eh, it doesn't matter, so what did Minato-sensei and the Third hokage want with you?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi grinned and from her pouch pulled out her forehead protector.

"I'm a Genin now!" she announced proudly, showing off her forehead protector to Obito.

"You are? Wow!" he cheered, patting her on the shoulder.

"I know, I'm so happy!" Nikushimi chirped, putting her forehead protector back safely in her pouch.

"We should go out and celebrate; after all, you only become a Genin once!" Obito decided, grabbing Nikushimi and pulling her with him. But after a few feet he stopped.

"Oh wait, you probably want to go and see your parents and celebrate with them…" trailed Obito. Nikushimi blinked, then wildly shook her head.

"No! No, I want to celebrate with you Obito!" she replied seriously. Obito grinned at her.

"You sure? Alright, let's go to our favorite café!" he then proceeded to drag her through the busy streets before they made it to their favorite café. They went over to their usual corner booth, waving at the waitress who knew them now.

"What can I get you two today?" questioned their waitress, Akane as her bright blue eyes looked down at them.

"I'd like my usual!" chirped Nikushimi, Obito nodding in agreement.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few!" Akane hurried away and Nikushimi grinned at Obito as she fiddled with her forehead protector.

"So where are you going to wear it? Your forehead, like a headband? Or on your arm maybe? Oh, and you're skinny enough to wear it as a belt too, or you could fashion it into a bandana or hat, I've seen ninja who do that, and some wear them around their necks." Obito inquired energetically. Nikushimi shrugged.

"I don't know, I was thinking about it and I don't really like the idea of it being around my neck because it might choke me in a fight, and I don't particularly like the idea of it on my arm. A headband would be pointless seeing as how I wear my bangs down over my eyes too." she murmured to herself.

"So how about like a belt? Like I said, you are skinny enough." Obito tried.

"I suppose that would work." Nikushimi agreed, standing up. She stood and Obito watched as she tied the black fabric around her abdomen tight enough so that it wouldn't fall off.

"How do I look?" asked Nikushimi, making a pose. Obito looked her up and down, trying to keep a straight face. When he started laughing, Nikushimi frowned.

"It looks bad?" she questioned with a sad tint in her voice.

"N-noooo, but the p-pose you were making…. so f-funny!" Obito stuttered, trying to stop laughing. Nikushimi pouted at him until he managed to stop, which was when their food arrived. Nikushimi dug into her chocolate cake with a grin on her face as Obito watched as she took a huge first bite.

"Mmmm!" Nikushimi squealed, "This sure beats the hospital food!" Obito laughed.

"I'm sure it does." he agreed, taking a bite of his own vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.

"Mmm." Nikushimi hummed, taking another bite of cake.

"So Nikushimi, what was that you used? You know, the Jutsu that you healed Yuki with?" inquired Obito as he took another bite of his own cake. Nikushimi blinked, pausing mid bite. She swallowed, and made a thoughtful face.

"I can't really tell you too much, because it's one of my clan secrets, but if you really want to know something I suppose I can tell you that its one of the hardest to perform Jutsu in my clan. For some reason, I'm able to perform that Jutsu and only that Jutsu so far… and as you can see it takes a lot out of me." explained Nikushimi before she finished her cake with another large bite.

"So you're kind of like a prodigy?" asked Obito. Nikushimi blinked in surprise, then she chuckled bitterly.

"Me? A prodigy? I'm far from it; usually by my age most of the kids in my clan have already unlocked their Kekkei-Genkai and can use their chakra freely. I'm far from a prodigy because I can't do that, I'm a failure really." Nikushimi spat.

"But you were able to use that Jutsu, you were able to kill that woman and you were able to save Yuki, in my eyes you're amazing." Obito argued as he too finished his cake.

"But I'm really not, the only thing I can do is use senbon… that's far from important, senbon aren't used because of how fragile they are and because you need to be precise to kill." Nikushimi protested. Obito slammed his hand down on the table and leaned across so he and Nikushimi were nose to nose. His obsidian orbs looked into her bangs and Nikushimi felt like he was able to peer into her. Her heart began to beat quickly, and her palms got sweaty.

"You listen here, Nikushimi," he barked, "You are not a failure, you are amazing! You took down that ninja when you weren't even a Genin yet, you were able to save Yuki's life and you were able to live from what should have been a fatal wound. You're amazing and you're strong! Don't make me beat it into you either, because I will!" Nikushimi's heart wouldn't stop beating as she tried to think of what to say to that.

"You'll have to," she spoke after a moment, "Beat it into me. Because until I master my Kekkei-Genkai, all I'll ever be is a weak little-" Obito stood sharply, making Nikushimi stop talking, and he threw some money down on the table. He grabbed her hand and dragged her out after yelling goodbye to Akane.

Nikushimi's heart was beating erratically as Obito dragged her down the street. A few people watched the pair as they ran down the street. By the time they made it to where they usually trained senbon, Nikushimi's arm felt like it was going to fall out of its socket, Obito was much faster than Nikushimi because he was able to use chakra to run faster than her. Reaching their training grounds, Obito stopped and let go of her before he turned and faced her.

"You said I have to beat some sense into you, so I'll do it. Right here, right now." Obito announced, and Nikushimi swore she saw fire burning behind his eyes. Nikushimi took a deep breath and took a stance.

"Come at me with all you've got then, Obito!" Nikushimi shouted. Obito jumped back and Nikushimi's eyes widened when she realized, he was really going to beat sense into her. His hands quickly flashed through the hand signs for his fireball Jutsu, and Nikushimi ran into the trees, hoping that he wouldn't be able to follow her seeing as how she was smaller and nimbler.

She dashed through the trees silently, however she knew that Obito was probably somewhere behind her so she didn't stop and turn around.

'He's really trying to attack me! He was about to shoot me with a Jutsu!' Nikushimi flew through the bushes and trees at full speed. Luckily her endurance was high enough for her to make it to the next training clearing that was luckily unoccupied. Nikushimi turned around; breathing heavily from the exercise and her heart was still pounding.

"Oh crap!" Nikushimi dove to the side as a large fireball came from the trees, scorching the ground where she had been moments before. She stared at the spot, wide eyed before she looked to the trees where Obito came running out towards her.

"Don't kill me!" she screeched before she pulled senbon from her pouch and she ran at him, her senbon like claws protruding from between her fingers.

"Then admit defeat!" retorted Obito as he pulled out a kunai. They clashed, Nikushimi's right hand in a lock with Obito's kunai. She swiped at him with her left hand but he jumped back before throwing the kunai at her. She moved to the side, letting it pass her.

"Hah! I dodged!" she grinned, until she heard the hissing. She turned quickly and her eyes widened upon finding an exploding tag on the kunai. She started running away only for the explosion behind her to make her go flying. She flew into a tree and landed on the ground harshly.

"Do you give in yet?" called Obito as he jogged towards her from across the clearing.

"No! I'm not giving in!" Nikushimi yelled, using the tree to help her out. A few burns were on her bandages, showing that she hadn't escaped the explosion unscathed.

"Well you're losing horribly; I'm going easy on you." Obito informed her. Nikushimi scowled.

"Well, I just became a Genin and you're a Chunin! It's not a fair match up!" complained Nikushimi.

"That enemy ninja you killed was probably a Chunin or higher." Obito pointed out. Nikushimi's scowl faltered, then she frowned at him.

"Yeah, but she underestimated me! She thought I was a weak little kid!" Nikushimi replied. Obito grinned.

"Say that again." he ordered her with a smirk. Nikushimi tilted her head, confused.

"She underestimated me; she thought I was a weak little kid…" Then Nikushimi realized, and the face that she made when she realized this made Obito start laughing.

"Hey! You tricked me!" she accused, pointing at Obito.

"You just admitted that you aren't weak and that you shouldn't be underestimated, looks like I did beat some sense into you." Obito told her smugly. Nikushimi stalked up to him and crossed her arms with a childish pout.

"You're so mean, Obito!" And then, she tackled him. Obito, not expecting it, fell over and they rolled around, just wrestling like little kids. It ended with Obito having Nikushimi in a head lock while she thrashed around and tried to bite his arm, only to find his jacket was in the way of this.

"Who's mean?" he teased, ruffling her hair.

"You are, now stop messing up my hair!" Nikushimi protested, trying to pry Obito's arm from her neck.

"Admit that I'm not mean, that I'm the nicest person in the world!" Obito laughed.

"No, you're mean, now let gooooo!" Nikushimi continued to struggle in Obito's grip but she was grinning so it was obvious she was having fun.

Meanwhile, in the distance, the Third Hokage and a man were observing them.

"That's Ketsueki Nikushimi?" questioned the man, his amber eyes squinting to see better, making the strange red ring around his pupil dilate slightly, "She looks rather…. small." The Third Hokage laughed.

"Just because she's small doesn't mean anything, she has the Will of Fire burning within her, she's rather stubborn and strong willed, which is why I've decided who will be on your team based off of the results that I have right now." The Third explained.

"So who do I have again?" questioned the man, his amber eyes leaving Nikushimi, who had escaped Obito's headlock and was now attempting to tackle him again.

"It's not set in stone yet, the two others could fail the exam." The Third said, turning and beginning to walk away. The man followed him, giving one last look at Nikushimi who was cheerfully jumping up and down after successfully getting Obito in a headlock. Obito was rubbing his head, facing Nikushimi so the man couldn't see his expression but Obito was no doubt trying to redeem himself.

"Looks like this will be fun." the man mused as he followed the Hokage.

* * *

**AN**

**So, I can't wait until you meet her Genin teammates. They're fun characters; I must say of her team, besides Nikushimi, her sensei is my favorite. But her team won't come in for at least another chapter or two. **

**Anyway, tell me what you think. Do you think that their friendship is cute? I think it's cute, they're such good friends. Do you think Kakashi is a little jerk? He didn't visit poor little Nikushimi in the hospital.**

**So yeah, bye.**


	10. Sleeping Problems

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 10_

_Sleeping Problems_

* * *

A shrill ringing noise woke Nikushimi. She groggily opened her eyes and groaned, she had not gotten much sleep. She rolled over; slightly undoing the cocoon she had been trapped in, and looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was still ringing, and it was making the table shake from the force of it.

"Gahhhhh." Nikushimi groaned, her hand snaking out and hitting the snooze button. She rolled over again and stared at the red wall of her bedroom that her bed was against, her eyes closing slightly. Moments later though, she sat up and looked at the clock again.

"Mm… too early…" she murmured as she slid from her bed, placing her un-bandaged feet on the floor. The cool, hard wood made Nikushimi recoil her feet and frown at it, "Too cold too…"

Nikushimi slid off her bed, taking a blanket with her and pulling it around her. She left her room and went into the kitchen where she put the kettle on the stove. As it boiled, she took a quick shower and then grabbed the kettle as it whistled. She made herself some tea, adding outrageous amounts of sugar and quite a bit of milk, and then she walked over to the couch. From the coffee table she grabbed a few rolls of bandages and started to roll them around her. This took her ten minutes.

Then she pulled her tank top and shorts on, her ninja pouches came next and she downed her tea after she was dressed. Then she walked back into her room and rearranged her bed in a somewhat clean way. She put her cup in the sink and then ran out the door to meet with Obito for their usual training which was back on track now that she was no longer in the hospital.

She climbed the tree and lazily hung from it until Obito arrived. By the time he had gotten there she had been half asleep though.

"Nikushimi?" he called, looking up at his small friend. Receiving no response he used his chakra to walk up the tree. He sat next to her on the branch and shook her slightly, receiving a hand hitting his face gently, as if he were the alarm clock.

"Nikushimi… I'm not your clock." he stated, trying not to laugh.

"Mm…. too early…" she muttered, lifting her head. Her hair was thrown back and she opened her eyes to look at Obito with disinterest.

'Nikushimi's expression when she's half asleep,' Obito decided, 'Makes her look like a sleepy kitten.' Nikushimi's slightly sharp teeth, her slightly pointed ears and her slit pupils gave her a general catlike appearance; her looking tired just completed the look.

"Eh? Obito…. oh guess I fell asleep…." she yawned before sitting up and leaning her head on Obito's shoulder.

"You didn't get much sleep did you?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi slowly shook her head as she buried her face into his shoulder.

"Did you have a nightmare?" questioned Obito, thinking of how he had been when he had first killed someone, he had nightmares for a week after, and eventually someone had talked it through with him. He had actually been surprised that Nikushimi hadn't had any nightmares even though he talked it out with her as soon as he was able to, which had been his first visit to her upon her awakening.

"Mm…" Nikushimi nodded slowly.

"Was it about that ninja you killed?" he inquired softly, he was surprised when Nikushimi shook her head.

"What was it about?" he pushed gently.

"Mm… what was your first meeting with your team like, Obito?" Nikushimi mumbled into his shoulder.

"Well, I was happy to be on a team with Rin, since I knew her in the academy, although I wasn't so happy being on a team with Kakashi since he was such a jerk, and Rin liked him, she still does." Obito answered her quietly.

'Rin likes Kakashi?' Nikushimi thought curiously, filing away that information for her to remember for later.

"Was your nightmare about meeting your team?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi nodded wordlessly.

"What happened in your nightmare?" he asked. Nikushimi sighed and pulled her face back so that just her forehead was on his shoulder.

"In my nightmare… my team didn't like me… not one bit… so they kept leaving me behind… and ignoring me… and I want to be involved with my team, Obito, for them to trust me and for them to like me! I wouldn't be able to stand having teammates who don't like me." Nikushimi cried, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. Obito watched the crimson colored tears drip down her face, the one from her right eye trailed along down the side of the scar on her face.

"Don't cry Nikushimi," Obito wiped the tears away with his thumb, staining his thumb red, "I'm sure they'll like you." Nikushimi sniffled a bit.

"No they won't!" she yelled suddenly, almost making Obito fall from his spot next to her on the branch, "No one's ever liked me! No one! I was always that creepy smart girl who was so smart, but then couldn't even make a decent henge or clone!" Obito steadied himself and looked at Nikushimi, whose eyes were beginning to tear up. Obito sighed and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. He held it out to her, when she didn't take it he used it to wipe the tears that were forming away; they stained the white fabric red.

"Then I guess I'm a no one," Obito stated suddenly, "Because I like you, you're my best friend." Nikushimi stared, wide eyed at Obito, then she smiled slightly. Obito stared into her eyes, searching them. Her left eye gave away so much expression, and looking into the glossy eye he could see his reflection as well. However, her right eye, the one the scar went over, was dull. They didn't have the same light as her other eye.

'Is something wrong with her right eye?' wondered Obito, but he didn't say anything, for fear of upsetting her again.

"I always forget, Obito," Nikushimi sniffled, "That you're my best friend."

"How so?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi shook her head.

"Because no one's ever been my friend for long before you… and whenever I wake up I think that you're just my imagination and that you'll disappear before my eyes, but then I see you, and you're tangible and real." admitted Nikushimi, looking up at the sky.

"Well, yes I'm real. And I'm never leaving you; I won't just disappear on you." Obito promised, putting a hand on her shoulder. Nikushimi grinned at him, and she felt her heart warm.

'That's right, Obito won't leave me.' Nikushimi realized. And she smiled at him.

"Right, now, let's get back to training, ne?" Nikushimi dropped from the tree and landed silently, Obito following her.

'Never, we'll be friends forever.' Nikushimi decided, grinning as she got things ready for training.

_^Next Day^_

The alarm clock made Nikushimi curse, she glared at the evil demon spawn before she rolled over and hit the snooze. She sat there for a minute, until she unraveled herself from her cocoon and slid from the bed with one blanket loosely hanging from around her small, scrawny frame. She shuffled to the kitchen tiredly, grumbling about alarm clocks and how evil they were.

She made herself some coffee, loading it with sugar and milk. She sipped it as she walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She pulled her bandages on afterwards, then another pair of her usual dark tank top and shorts. She paused as she passed her dresser, her eyes landing on the black fabric that had the Leaf symbol etched into the metal piece on it.

'…Should I?' Nikushimi wondered, after a moment she shook her head and left to go meet up with Obito, that night's nightmare fresh in her mind.

When she arrived she realized she had arrived late, for Obito was leaning against the tree waiting. He eyed her as she slowly shuffled over to him. She tried to stifle a yawn, but it slipped through. He walked over to her and parted her bangs, staring her in the eyes as she closed her mouth from her large yawn.

"You didn't sleep." he stated, then nodded to himself. He stopped bending over and allowed Nikushimi's hair to fall back in front of her face. Then he grabbed her hand and started to pull her along as he jogged. She stumbled along behind him, wondering why he was dragging her.

'I really hope he doesn't want to beat energy into me…' Nikushimi hoped, thinking of how he had dragged her to the training grounds last time. Instead, Obito pulled her along to the Uchiha district. They ran through the streets hurriedly.

"Everyone's on missions, so it's pretty empty, even my parents are on missions." Obito explained as Nikushimi wondered why the area was so empty.

"Oh." was Nikushimi's only response.

They came to a stop in front of one of the somewhat smallish houses. However they had more yard in front of them than the houses they had passed in the beginning of the district. Obito walked up and unlocked the door before pulling Nikushimi inside. They slid out of their shoes and lined them up in the right places before Obito pulled her up the stairs instead of down the hallway. Obito led her into the room right by the stairs, there were three doorways.

"Our house isn't that big," Obito informed Nikushimi, "Since it's just me, my mom and my dad we live in this house, there are two bedrooms up here, a bathroom, then downstairs a dining room, family room, and kitchen. But because our house is small, we have a good sized yard in the back of our house, and there is more yard in front of our house too, as you saw." Nikushimi nodded slowly.

"Ah, I see, my apartment isn't that big either… your house is much bigger…" she murmured. Obito grinned and gestured for hr to o sit on the bed. Nikushimi sat down and peered around the room as Obito hurried around, trying to clean up slightly.

"This is obviously my room, sorry about the mess!" Obito said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. Nikushimi continued looking around. Obito's room wasn't all that big; his bed was pushed against the wall, although it was quite large, he had a desk in the corner that Nikushimi had almost hit when Obito had pulled her in. The desk was overflowing with random things and his bookshelf was packed. He had a small shelf that hung next to the bookshelf, which was under the window in his room.

"Is this your team photo?" Nikushimi questioned, peering down at a picture of Minato, Kakashi, Rin and Obito. Obito looked over her shoulder easily, since he was much taller than her, and he nodded.

"Yeah, doesn't Kakashi look so grumpy in that picture?" Obito laughed. Nikushimi giggled slightly, peering at Kakashi's whose eyes clearly stated that he didn't want to be there, and that he wanted Minato to remove his hand from his head. Although, Kakashi was the only grumpy one, Rin was smiling and looked ecstatic, while Obito was grinning. Minato had a hand on Kakashi and Obito's heads and he was smiling at the camera. Kakashi was the only grump really.

"Yeah, you, Rin and Minato look really happy…" trailed Nikushimi Obito pulled her back over to the bed and he sat cross-legged facing her.

"What was your nightmare about this time?" he asked quietly. Nikushimi sniffled.

"I dreamed that my sensei didn't like me and left me behind and that I stayed weak and unable to use chakra forever!" wailed Nikushimi. Obito sighed and shook his head.

"One, you're not weak, we've been over this." Obito pointed out, "And two, no sensei would leave their student behind."Nikushimi sniffed.

"They would." she protested, "Why else are there so many low ranking Chunin that are old?" Obito laughed at her reasoning.

"Well, you won't be left behind; even if your sensei doesn't do anything, then I'll train you!" Obito announced. Nikushimi smiled slightly.

"Thanks Obito, I suppose that cheered me up a little…" she trailed.

"Good, so why don't we take a break from training? I bet one of my little cousins is around, I'll take you to meet one of them." Obito grabbed Nikushimi's hand and pulled her from his room and down the stairs. He locked his house behind him and they ran down a few streets until they reached one of the larger houses.

"Oi! Itachi!" Obito called as he entered the property. Nikushimi followed more slowly, and she watched as the door opened and a smaller boy around three years old walked out.

"Obito?" The small boy questioned, looking at Obito.

'They look similar, same hair, same eyes; same skin tone… all Uchiha's must look similar…' Nikushimi decided.

"Hey Itachi, can you ask your mom if you can come out with my friend and me?" questioned Obito. Itachi nodded and ran inside, looking quite excited.

"That's my little cousin Itachi, he's only three but he's actually really smart, he already acts a lot older than he really is. Everyone says he's going to be an amazing ninja." Obito informed Nikushimi.

"Oh… so is he a prodigy?" she questioned. Obito nodded.

"Everyone thinks he's going to be a complete prodigy, his father is very happy about that too." Obito affirmed.

"I see, he sounds like he has high expectations to live up to." Nikushimi murmured, pausing to look at the door as it slid open again and Itachi walked out.

"I can come." Itachi stated when Nikushimi and Obito's gazes fell on him.

"Awesome! So, Itachi, this is my best friend Nikushimi, and Nikushimi you know that this is Itachi!" Obito introduced them. Nikushimi grinned at Itachi.

"Nice to meet you!" she chirped.

"You too." Itachi replied with a nod before he turned to Obito, "What are we doing?" Obito made a face.

"I was thinking of playing the paw print game." Obito confessed.

"Paw print game?" asked Nikushimi. Itachi turned to her.

"It's a game where we collect paw prints from cats, I came up with it." Itachi told her proudly.

"So…. we have to collect paw prints from cats? That sounds rather easy…" Nikushimi muttered. Obito laughed.

"You say that now, but it's actually challenging, especially since our main target is Koneko." Obito replied wisely.

"Koneko?" questioned Nikushimi.

"Koneko, she's the Land of Fire's Daimyo's cat, but whenever he visits, which is often, Koneko escapes and it's usually a Genin teams job to catch her. And she's vicious!" Obito explained, before making a hissing noise and making clawing motions with his hands.

"So basically, we get to go after this vicious cat, which has claws, and we try and get its paw print." deadpanned Nikushimi.

"Yeah, it's actually really fun because Koneko prefers running to fighting." Obito chirped as he pulled a book from his pouch, "I actually have my book on me, we have a lot of paw prints, we're still missing Koneko's though. She's a bit tough to catch."

"So, what are we waiting for then?" questioned Nikushimi and Obito grinned at her. Then, they took off.

About an hour later they found themselves running after a very fast gray cat with a red ribbon around its neck. The cat had already tried to maul Nikushimi, who had grabbed the cat

"Get back here you damn cat!" yelled Nikushimi, running through an alley with Obito right behind her and Itachi matching his strides.

"Wait there's a wall that way!" called Obito as Nikushimi made a left. He skidded to a stop and watched Nikushimi run down the alley.

"Oh no you don't!" screeched Nikushimi as Koneko squeezed through a hole in the fence. Nikushimi, not pausing for a second, jumped up onto a garbage can and made a flying leap over the fence. Obito and Itachi then followed after her, Obito carrying Itachi as he ran along the walls.

Nikushimi had landed gracefully on the other side of the fence and sped after the cat again, not giving Obito or Itachi a moment to catch up. Using his chakra, Obito eventually managed to catch up, but it was when they had run almost across the entire village. Also, Koneko had escaped into the mixed bathing side of the bathhouse. The three shared a look.

"Who's going in?" questioned Nikushimi.

"Not me." Itachi stated immediately, giving them a dead stare.

"Don't you need to change in the changing room before you're allowed in? So does that mean that if I go in I have to… take my clothes off in front of people?" Nikushimi asked in horror. Nikushimi had never been to a bathhouse before, she didn't like changing in front of people and would do anything to prevent people from seeing her without her bandages.

"No, besides, you have bandages on… And I'm not going in to the mixed bathing area!" Obito shook his head.

"Why don't we play rock paper scissors to decide?" suggested Nikushimi.

"Fine." agreed Obito. They held their hands out and quickly shook their fists while saying "Rock papers scissors!". Then, they both made rock. Nikushimi and Obito frowned at each other, and went again, only to come out in a tie with paper. A third time came out with the results as a tie with scissors.

"Pick something different!" huffed Nikushimi as they started again.

"No, you! You're copying me!" Once again, they both tied with papers.

"Gah!" Nikushimi shook her head, "We should both just run in, get the stupid cat and run out without changing!"

"That's probably a better idea," agreed Obito, "On three!"

They both tensed and then, Obito counted to three. When he hit three, they both ran in, scaring a few women who were standing in the doorway. They ran out into the spring area, their eyes scanning for the grey cat. They found her, sitting on top of the fence that led into the women's private bathing area.

"Don't you dare!" Obito hissed. The cat dared, and jumped down. Nikushimi and Obito both ran forward and Obito helped Nikushimi up first before he used chakra to run over it. All the women screamed as the two ran through the bathing area, Obito carrying Nikushimi who was unable to walk on water like Obito.

Koneko jumped over the fence into the next area, which was the men's area. Obito hoped the fence and they ran through, this spring was thankfully empty. They followed Koneko over the next fence, which led out of the public baths.

Obito put Nikushimi down and they both sped after Koneko who ran into the woods. Itachi rejoined them and the three of them chased after the cat as it made twists and turns through bushes and climbed trees. Then, after another hour of chasing, the cat lost them when they all grew tired of chasing after it.

Nikushimi landed on the ground panting, Obito and Itachi both taking seats next to her. She continued to take deep breaths until she stilled. Worried, Obito poked her, but then found that she had fallen asleep. He grinned.

"Success!" he cheered, making Itachi look at him curiously.

"Nikushimi has been sleeping badly lately, so I had us run around so that she would fall asleep from all the running around!" Obito explained excitedly as he picked Nikushimi up and maneuvered her so she was on his back.

"That was smart." Itachi observed with a nod. The two walked back to the Uchiha compound in silence.

"Obito, you said she's your best friend…" Itachi said as they entered the compound.

"Yeah, why?" questioned Obito.

"But isn't she a girl? Aren't best friends supposed to be the same? Like, boy and boy, and girl and girl?" Itachi inquired. Obito laughed.

"Where'd you learn that? No, best friends can be anyone, my best friend is Nikushimi, so what if I'm a boy and she's a girl?" Obito answered cheerfully. Itachi frowned.

"But when I was listening to some older kids, they said that there's a difference, that if you have a girl as a friend that she's your girlfriend." Itachi protested.

'Why do people always think that? First Yuki, now Itachi? Granted, Itachi doesn't know the difference yet…' Obito wondered.

"Well, there's a difference. A girlfriend is different than just a friend or a best friend… like…" Obito trailed, trying to think of a way to word it for a three year old, "Actually you should have your mom explain it because she was your dads girlfriend once." Itachi nodded.

"Alright." Itachi agreed as they passed his house. Itachi waved to Obito as he ran into the house, Obito waited until he saw Mikoto peer out and wave to him. Obito waved back and continued on down the street.

He quietly made his way into his house and up the stairs after locking the door. He went into his room and turned the light on before lying Nikushimi on his bed. He looked at the time, it was around dinner time.

Leaving Nikushimi in his room he went downstairs and heated some leftovers up for dinner his mother had left him before she and his father had left on their mission. They would be back in two days.

'I hope Nikushimi's parents don't look for her while she's here, I doubt she'll wake up.' Obito thought as he climbed the stairs, balancing food in his hands.

'Thinking of her parents, she doesn't talk much about them, I wonder if she doesn't like her parents?' Obito set the food down on his desk and took his bowl, leaving one bowl in case Nikushimi got up. Obito slid his closet open and pulled out two extra blankets and two extra pillows. He set them on the floor and sat down on them.

He finished his food after ten minutes of listening to Nikushimi's soft breathing. Then he moved the things around on the floor to make himself a makeshift bed. He changed in the bathroom and then turned the lights out. As he slid under one of the blankets on the floor he stared at the ceiling.

'Why is Nikushimi getting so many nightmares?' he wondered, but he fell asleep before he could think more.

* * *

**AN**

**I actually don't like this chapter very much…**

**I drew a picture of Obito and Nikushimi hugging, it's on my Deviantart.**

**Bye.**


	11. How He Gives Her Courage

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 11_

_How He Gives Her Courage_

* * *

When Nikushimi woke she was confused, as she wasn't in her house. She shot up, tense and ready to fight. However then she calmed, seeing that she was in Obito's room. Her sudden moving had also roused Obito, who sat up and looked around before he realized Nikushimi was up.

"You slept like a log." he informed her, "I carried you from the other side of Konoha, made a ton of noise in here, and you never woke up."

"Oh… guess I was tired." Nikushimi laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. She then pulled her ponytail out, seeing as how it was messy from her sleeping with it.

"Sorry for taking up your bed, you could have just woke me up you know." Nikushimi added.

"But that was my plan." Obito pointed out, "I made us run around until you fell asleep so you would get a ton of sleep and have no nightmares!" Nikushimi's response was a blink.

"You planned to have me fall asleep?" she questioned, then she laughed.

"Didn't expect it, eh?" Obito teased before he stood up and stretched. He quickly put his makeshift bed away as Nikushimi ran her fingers through her hair under it was pin straight again. Obito, curious about Nikushimi's hair, walked over and took a few strands in his hands.

"Your hair is soft." complimented Obito as he held some of her hair in his hands. Nikushimi shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, thanks?" she tried, sounding unsure. Obito dropped her hair back in place and gave her an incredulous look.

"No one's ever complimented you on your hair before?" he questioned. Nikushimi slowly shook her head.

"No…" she trailed. Obito sighed.

"We can get back to this later; right now let's go get breakfast." Obito decided as both their stomachs grumbled. They trouped downstairs where they had a quick breakfast before leaving. The Uchiha district was more lively today, but not by much.

"It's much busier today." commented Nikushimi. Obito nodded.

"Yeah, almost everyone had missions yesterday, but some returned last night or today. My parents won't be back until tomorrow though," then Obito thought of something, "Say, what about your parents?" Nikushimi paused, thought for a moment, and then opened her mouth to answer.

"Ah Obito! I've been looking for you!" Nikushimi was saved from answering as she and Obito turned to watch Uchiha Mikoto rush over with a half asleep Itachi following her.

'She's pretty.' Nikushimi thought, admiring Mikoto's dark blue-black hair.

"What do you need, Aunt Mikoto?" questioned Obito. Mikoto was not actually his mother or fathers sister, nor was Mikoto's husband, Fugaku, however Mikoto was close to him so he called her his aunt. Thus making Itachi his cousin and Fugaku his uncle.

"I was just looking to see if you could watch Itachi for me next week, I have some things I need to do but I don't want to bore Itachi with them." she explained cheerfully.

"Of course I can watch him, he'll just have to watch me train with my team if that's alright, but the training won't be for that long." Obito replied.

"Ok, thank you Obito." she smiled and looked over at Nikushimi who was half hiding behind Obito, "Oh who's this?" Obito grinned and stepped to the side so Mikoto could see Nikushimi.

"This is Nikushimi." he introduced.

"Well Nikushimi, I'm Obito's aunt, Uchiha Mikoto, it's nice to meet you." Mikoto greeted.

"I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi, nice to meet you too." Nikushimi replied with a small smile. Mikoto suddenly got a devious twinkle in her eyes.

"Obito… is she your girlfriend?" she asked with a sly grin. Nikushimi almost fell over and Obito groaned before face palming.

"Why does everyone think that? No, she is not my girlfriend. She's my best friend, there is a difference!" Obito explained, exasperated.

'Everyone thinks that? Since when?' Nikushimi wondered as Mikoto laughed at Obito.

"Sure, sure, I'll believe you for now." she teased as she turned around to make sure her son hadn't fallen asleep on his feet.

"You sure tired him out yesterday, he's still tired." Mikoto commented as she shook her sons shoulder slightly to knock him from his daze.

"That means it worked, the point of the game was to tire Nikushimi out!" Obito announced, grinning at how well his plan worked.

"Why was that the goal?" inquired Mikoto, peering at Nikushimi curiously.

"I've been having nightmares that prevent me from sleeping well…" Nikushimi admitted.

"Ah, I see, drinking tea before bed helps with that. I better get going now; I need to get things for dinner. I'll see you later, Obito!" Mikoto called as she started to walk away, pulling Itachi behind her.

"Poor Itachi looks like something the cat would drag in." commented Nikushimi. Obito blinked.

"Well, we were chasing a cat." he pointed out. Nikushimi started laughing and Obito started to pull her through the streets by her hand since she couldn't quite get her giggles to go away enough to follow him.

"So what are we going to get for breakfast?" Nikushimi inquired through giggles as Obito continued to drag her down the street.

"I was thinking our usual place." he replied as he pulled her from the Uchiha district. She was pulled down a few more streets until they reached their usual café. Obito pulled her in and they took their usual booth where Akane waved at them.

"Our usual please!" he called to Akane, who nodded, the mass of orange curls atop her head bouncing as she did. She disappeared in the back room so Nikushimi and Obito turned to each other.

"So you slept good?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah, no nightmares. I guess I was really comfy, or maybe your bed is just really comfy…" Nikushimi trailed. Obito laughed.

"I think it was both, because my bed is really comfy and you just fell asleep on the ground." Obito decided. Nikushimi laughed. They sat in silence for a few moments before a few thoughts occurred to Obito.

"Oh yeah… I wanted to ask you, how come your parents seem to never be home?" questioned Obito.

"Because they're never home." Nikushimi replied as Akane placed their usual on their table. They thanked her and she walked away after smiling to them.

"Never?" Obito repeated as he took a bite of his food.

"Mm-hm." Nikushimi nodded as she too took a large bite of her food.

"My parents are out on mission a lot, but they're home a lot too. They usually take missions whenever I have missions so I'm not alone." Obito explained. Nikushimi nodded.

"Ah." she took another bite. They ate in silence after that, then they paid and left. They separated after that for the day, Nikushimi explaining she wanted to take a bath.

Arriving home Nikushimi had stripped down and filled her tub up. Then she sat in the warm water and hugged her knees to her chest.

"I'm afraid." she murmured to herself, leaning her forehead on her knees.

"I'm so afraid that they won't like me." she whispered.

'I shouldn't worry, I mean, Obito likes me, and Rin seems to like me…' Nikushimi sighed as she continued to think.

"I hate it." she muttered, "I hate that no one seems to like me."

'I can count on one hand, Obito, and maybe Rin. That's about it, I think Minato tolerates me but doesn't particularly like me. And I know Kakashi doesn't like me.' Another sigh left Nikushimi and she dipped her head under the water. She pulled her head back up and leaned her head back on her knees, trails of water falling from her soaked hair.

"I really don't know how I'm going to face my team…" Nikushimi trailed with a sigh.

_^The Next Day^_

Nikushimi sat on the 2nd Hokage's head on the Hokage monument. She had been sitting there for about an hour when Obito showed up and sat next to her silently.

"How'd you know I was here?" she inquired.

"I guessed that you'd be here, whenever you're in a serious mood you come here to think." Obito replied as they stared out over the village.

"I meet my team tomorrow." Nikushimi commented.

"Do you know who's on your team?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi shook her head.

"No, I was just told I'm on Squad 13." Nikushimi answered. Obito nodded.

"I think they're going to like you." Obito stated.

"I doubt it, no one in the academy liked me." Nikushimi replied.

"They're coming from the graduating class, which is a group of thirteen year olds, you're eleven, but you take the exam because you're allowed to try as long as you have high grades, which you obviously do... in academics anyway." Obito pointed out.

"So?" Nikushimi muttered.

"So they're not in your class, meaning they don't know you which means they will get their first impression of you at your meeting tomorrow." Obito explained. Nikushimi blinked, then sighed.

"Yeah, but what if they think I'm stupid? No one really likes how I look…" Nikushimi mumbled.

"Then once again, I'm a no one. Your hair is awesome, your eyes are startling at first but they're cool, and you're not short… you're fun sized." Obito explained. Nikushimi glowered at him.

"I'm not short! And I'm not fun-sized!" she huffed.

"But, I have to look down at you. I'm at least a head taller than you." deadpanned Obito. Nikushimi pouted at him.

"What about my scar? No one likes that!" Nikushimi protested.

"Well, you can't exactly get rid of a scar, besides, it doesn't matter. After time, all ninja get scars. You just have one earlier than them." Obito replied with a smirk. Nikushimi frowned.

"But-" Obito cut her off.

"They're going to like you. You're friendly, and once you start talking they'll start to like you. I say, that you go to your meeting tomorrow with your hair pulled back so your eyes are showing so that they know you're not ashamed! Show them who you really are, not a fake you, because they need to like you for you, and not who you pretend to be!" Obito announced with a grin. Nikushimi's eyes widened as Obito reached forward and pulled her bangs to the side so that they were tucked behind her ears. Her two long bangs still fell down and framed her face though.

"But Obito, what if they get scared of my eyes?" Nikushimi whined.

"They won't! They'll be a bit shocked at first, but you look fine! Don't make me beat more sense into you." Obito huffed.

"I don't need to go tomorrow being all beat up." protested Nikushimi. Obito grinned.

"Now that I think about it, we've been neglecting training, let's go spar, get some confidence in you." Before Nikushimi could move, Obito grabbed her hand and he pulled her to her feet before he started to drag her down the monument. She fell onto his back and he used his chakra to get down the fast way, as opposed to taking the stairs. All the while, Nikushimi was clutching Obito like he was her lifeline.

When they reached the training grounds, Obito stopped dragging Nikushimi and let go of her hand. He whirled around to face her.

"Alright!" he announced, "The rules are I'm not allowed to use Jutsu, since we don't need you to be barbequed, but I am allowed to use weapons and Taijutsu. You're allowed to use anything except for senbon since you're already strong in that area!" Nikushimi nodded and then spring back as they began.

They started by running at each other. Nikushimi was more flexible and agile than Obito without chakra, however with chakra Obito was faster and because of his chakra he was more balanced. However without chakra Nikushimi was faster and more balanced. Obito also held more power than Nikushimi with and without chakra. Nikushimi's weapon accuracy though was better, with and without Obito using chakra.

'Nikushimi's Taijutsu isn't as strong as I thought.' Obito noted as he and Nikushimi clashed, 'I should ask Gai to help…' Obito almost shuddered at the thought of the strange spandex clad boy who had defeated him in the Chunin exams. But Obito had to admit that Gai's Taijutsu was very impressive.

'No, I think he might scare Nikushimi… or scar her for life…' Obito decided as he dodged Nikushimi's fist and hooked her legs out from underneath her. She fell over and Obito then grinned mischievously. He put one foot on her stomach gently to keep her down and he kneeled down. he started tickling her sides, making her laugh and squirm.

"S-stoppp!" cried Nikushimi, laughing so hard that he could see her strange red tears falling down her cheeks.

"Nope." Obito replied cheerfully as he continued to tickle her. Then, Nikushimi rolled over and knocked Obito over. They just stayed there though, lying on the ground looking up at the clouds. Nikushimi as red in the face from laughing, and her hair was all over the place. They both rolled over onto their sides to look at each other, and Nikushimi started giggling.

"I can't believe how ticklish you are…" trailed Obito. Nikushimi let out a short laugh which she rolled onto her stomach and threw her face into the grass to muffle. Her body shook and Obito watched as his friend tried to stop herself from laughing.

"You're such a strange person Nikushimi, but in a good way." Obito commented. Nikushimi soon stopped laughing, and she rolled over again so that she and Obito were right next to each other.

"Is it possible to laugh to death?" questioned Nikushimi. Obito snorted.

"No, if it were you'd have died by now." Obito replied seriously. Nikushimi giggled, but managed to stop.

"Should I tickle you again? Because that was really funny, watching you laugh to death." wondered Obito.

"Ah, noooo!" Nikushimi rolled away and got up quickly and started to run away, Obito on her heels a moment later. Nikushimi darted into the forst and managed to pass through two training fields before Obito caught her and started to tickle her again.

"So did I cheer you up today?" questioned Obito as they once again chose to lie on the grass next to each other. They had spent the day running around the training fields for now the sky was turning orange and yellow from the sun going down.

"Yeah, I completely forgot actually…" Nikushimi realized.

"Aren't I the best?" Obito asked with a big grin.

"You're the best Obito." Nikushimi replied.

"And to make sure that you don't get any last minute thoughts, then I'll promise. I never break my promises, and I promise that you'll be fine. It will be fine, your team will like you and it will be fine. I promise." Obito promised.

"Thank you, Obito."

Nikushimi was ready to meet her team. And it was all because Obito had given her the courage to face them.

* * *

**AN**

**So I've decided to do little fun facts for chapters.**

**Fun Fact- Nikushimi's Birthday is December 13****th****, Obito's is February 10****th****, which is very close to my birthday.**

**Anyway, I'm horrible at chapter names… seriously. I couldn't think of anything.**

**Also, i'm very excited for next chapter because she meets her team. I think her sensei is my next favorite OC other than Nikushimi in this story.**

**Bye.**


	12. Her Team

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 12_

_Her Team_

* * *

Nikushimi had slept rather well, despite that she thought she was going to have more nightmares. She had woken up and gotten up easily, after of course grumpily turning the alarm off.

"If it had feelings," she muttered as she walked into her bathroom, "Then I want to know how _it_ would feel being woken up!"

As usual she took a shower and redid her bandages before pulling on her shorts, tank top, and ninja tool pouches. Then, instead of her usual bangs, she pulled her bangs to the side so her eyes and scar were out for all to see. As she passed her dresser she paused. She looked at the headband on it, and hesitated taking it.

'Should I wear it?' she wondered, picking it up and looking at it. Doubt started to fill her, but then she took a deep breath.

"Obito said I'd be fine, so I'm going to trust in his word since he's always right!" Nikushimi decided as she tied the forehead protector around her waist. She stopped by the mirror to examine herself and decided she looked good. Then she left her apartment after locking it.

She arrived at the academy and noticed the students were waiting around. She took a seat in the corner and played with her fingers nervously. She heard a few students whispeingr together about her. All the students were from the class above hers, so they didn't know her.

"Look at her eyes…" she heard a girl whisper, making Nikushimi bow her head.

'They think my eyes are scary…' Nikushimi thought, feeling a grip on her heart. Nikushimi blinked.

'This feeling… I'm scared.' she realized.

"Are her ears… pointed? She looks like a freakin' cat!" she heard the girl say rather loudly. Nikushimi slouched in her chair now, and she tried to block out her hearing.

'I feel like I'm an animal in a zoo, I feel like everyone is staring at me!' Nikushimi thought. She dared to look up to find a good amount of the room trying to discreetly eye her; however none of them were very discreet.

Suddenly the door opened and a few Jounin entered. They all looked impressive, however three stood out.

One woman had bright orange hair. However her eyes were what caught Nikushimi's attention; her eyes were a strange minty green. They were cloudy, and Nikushimi knew that woman was blind. Watching the woman, Nikushimi could tell that she was somehow able to 'see' though. She bet it had something to do with her bare feet and the gold colored gauntlets around her ankles and wrists.

The second man had blond-orange hair that seemed to change between the two colors depending on the light. He was also a large man, a great contrast to the small woman next to him, even though she had obvious muscle. His eyes were also minty green, however his eyes were slightly darker, and they weren't cloudy. It was most likely that he and the woman were related.

Next to that man was the last man who took her attention. His eyes looked like his iris's had flames in them; his iris was various tones of amber, yellow, and red which danced around in flame like patterns. The man's hair was similar like this, looking like flames. But also on his back was a strange weapon. It was like a staff, only very large. Due to its size he had to turn slightly to get into the room without hitting the doorway. The staff also had a tie at the end and top and it looked like a large fan that was being held together. At the top a red orb sat, gleaming in the light.

'I wonder who my sensei is.' Nikushimi thought curiously.

"Squad fifteen!" called the large minty eyed man.

"Squad fourteen!" called the woman that Nikushimi had found interesting. Three girls who to Nikushimi looked like they cared more for their looks than their training followed her out as she made her way out. The man followed with a squad of two girls and a shy looking boy.

"Squad thirteen!" called the fiery man. Nikushimi stood and felt like everyone was staring at her once more as she made her way to stand before her sensei.

"She looks like a freak, she's so weird, and she's so short too!" Nikushimi heard someone whisper, after hearing the whispers Nikushimi was able to make out that it was the same person each time. Nikushimi decided at this point that she had enough. She turned around and scowled.

"You know, I can hear you! Why don't you stop talking shit about me when I'm right here! Do not make me come over there and knock you into next week!" The girl who Nikushimi snapped at looked surprised.

'Ouch, popular girl… my luck sucks.' The girl was gorgeous and obviously popular as her seat was surrounded by everyone. Long black hair fell down in strands, and dark obsidian eyes stared at her with anger. Her face was pale, yet not too pale, a healthy pale. And Nikushimi's gaze could detect that she was wearing makeup.

'It looks like she's actually really weak though… she seems to focus more on her looks and popularity than her training.' Nikushimi noted.

"Excuse me? Do I hear someone trying to talk to me? The great Uchiha Tsurai?" the girl sputtered bitterly. Nikushimi scowled.

'I think I'll make her look bad, teach her to try and insult me.' Nikushimi decided.

"It's a pity," Nikushimi turned around to face her sensei, "That someone so pretty, and an Uchiha, is so conceited and focused on looks rather than training. You're pretty sucky, for a great Uchiha. You sure you're not adopted, oh great Tsurai." Nikushimi taunted, then she heard Tsurai start making noises that reminded Nikushimi of a child about to throw a tantrum.

"How would you know?" spat Tsurai. Nikushimi smirked and threw her a look over her shoulder.

"Your arms are boney, no muscle, you have no scars, you're pale, and you're wearing makeup. If we compared me and you, I have a scar on my face, my skin is naturally paper white, I could sit outside for days and nothing would happen, I have some muscle under my bandages, and I have no makeup whatsoever." Nikushimi's sensei put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her out into the hall. Nikushimi didn't protest.

"Well," he started to slightly pull her down the hall, "That wasn't as bad as it could have been."

"How bad could it have been?" a boy's voice asked. Nikushimi looked to the voice to find a boy, taller than her by around a fourth of a foot. He was pushing his glasses up onto his nose too; they had slipped down when their new sensei had pulled them down the hall.

"Well, they could have leapt at each other, claws out." Their new sensei made a hissing noise and made a clawing motion.

"That's ridiculous and stupid." Her other teammate muttered. Her other teammate was also a boy, only he was half a foot taller than her.

'Why does everyone have to be taller than me?' Nikushimi wondered as their sensei led them to a training ground where there were four logs set up.

"Well? Sit down, we need to get to know each other after all!" he said cheerfully as he took the larger log. Nikushimi sat down on the side as her two teammates took the two closest to their sensei.

"Ok, so introductions. Say your name, something about you, like something you like or dislike or both. You can give us a style of fighting if you want, but we can get that later, and I also want to know your dreams, goals, ambitions and the like. I can go first if you'd like." their sensei announced.

"Could you goo first sensei?" The shorter boy questioned before he started to cough slightly. He stopped after a moment though, unfazed by his sudden coughing fit.

"Alright, well I'm Kasai Moyasu. I like spicy food, and the thing I hate the most is water. I mainly fight with my weapon here," Moyasu gestured to the strange staff on his back, "and my goals, ambitions, dreams and all that is not something I share." Moyasu's eyes twinkled slightly, and Nikushimi decided he was probably remembering something. They sat in silence for a moment, so Nikushimi looked at her two teammates.

The shorter boy, the one with the glasses was much less intimidating than her other teammate. He was rather pale and looked rather fragile, however she could definitely see muscle on him. He had light blue-silver hair that was in short neat strands and he wore his forehead protector like most ninja, on his forehead like a headband. Nikushimi though looked intently at his eyes, his iris was a very pale blue-white and his pupil was very hard to find, it being also a light color. His eyes reminded her of the Hyuuga eyes, only his eyes had a pupil and obvious iris, they were just hard to make out.

Her other teammate had slicked back dark hair that went down his neck and dark obsidian eyes like Tsurai and Obito. He was leaning back, looking like he didn't want to be there and his mouth was set in a firm frown. Nikushimi's eyes lingered though on his left ear which had seven hoops going up the cartilage.

"I'm Garasu Shogai," the boy with the glasses spoke up as he fiddled with his gray vest that was over his light blue long sleeved shirt, "I like springtime because it isn't too hot or cold, and I don't really like spicy foods… my dream is to be a proud member of my clan." Shogai paused after saying spicy foods to cough though.

'Is he sick?' wondered Nikushimi looking at him as he started to fiddle with a wristband on his left arm. It was dark gray with a whit curvy diamond shape on it.

"I'm Uchiha Tatakau," Nikushimi's attention was drawn to the Uchiha, "I don't like a lot of things, and I dislike a lot of things. My dream is to master the Sharingan and become an ANBU." When he finished, all eyes were on Nikushimi.

"_Show them who you really are, not a fake you, because they need to like you for you, and not who you pretend to be_!"

Obito's words flashed through Nikushimi's head and she took a deep breath before looking up proudly.

"My name is Ketsueki Nikushimi, and don't you forget it! I like training with my best friend, Uchiha Obito, and I don't like it when people are mean. My dream…" Nikushimi trailed before shaking her head. She closed her eyes and opened them again, and Moyasu swore that he could see a burning fire behind them.

"My dream… no my goal is protect those who I care for, no matter the cost! Even if it means I have to die… then so be it."

A grin started to spread across Moyasu's face making Shogai and Tatakau stare at him curiously.

'The old geezer was right; she does have the Will of Fire burning within her… as for the other two… I think I can make something of these three.'

"Well," Moyasu announced suddenly, clapping his hands and making Shogai flinch from the sudden loud noise, "You're all different and I think you guys are pretty interesting. We're going to have a quick little spar now so I can get a feel for your fighting abilities… It will be you three against me." Nikushimi, Tatakau, and Shogai all blinked.

"Ne, sensei… is that really a good idea?' Nikushimi questioned.

"You'll die if we go all out. Don't underestimate me!" growled Tatakau.

"Sensei, please you might end up getting injured!" Shogai protested. Moyasu waved them off.

"I'll be fine, and I do not doubt your abilities but… I'm an honest guy. You're all Genin, barely, you're the lowest ranking ninja and you're fresh out of the academy. Meanwhile, I'm a Jounin who has been on many high level missions and survived more than one life or death experience against people who want to kill me." Moyasu snorted. Nikushimi blinked.

"Ne, sensei, you were informed that because of a special condition my graduation test was an actual escort mission right?" Nikushimi questioned, receiving stares. She sighed. "I'm taking that as a no."

"You were on a mission?" demanded Tatakau. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah, it was my graduation exam; it didn't go very well mission wise, but I passed." explained Nikushimi.

'I do remember the old geezer saying something about this, now that I think about it…'Moyasu thought, 'I forget what he said about it though… it's probably nothing.'

"I call bull, there's no way." Tatakau snorted. Nikushimi scowled.

"Well it happened! You can ask the Hokage too!" she yelled.

"Ha, and pigs fly." mocked Tatakau. Nikushimi glowered at him.

"You're just jealous that you haven't been on a mission and I have been! Ha!" Nikushimi stuck her tongue out at Tatakau childishly.

"I am not jealous of you, shorty!" huffed Tatakau. Nikushimi's face turned an angry shade of red.

"I will end you!" she screeched, launching herself at Tatakau. Luckily, Moyasu grabbed the back of her shirt and held her there while she struggled and tried to get to Tatakau.

"No Nikushimi, you can't kill your new teammate." Moyasu scolded lightly as he watched Tatakau smirk at Nikushimi and taunt her.

"Tatakau, don't make me let go of her. She might maul you…" Moyasu trailed. Tatakau stopped taunting Nikushimi and frowned.

"I'd like to see her try!" he snorted. Moyasu let go of Nikushimi who immediately flew at Tatakau.

"Yahhh!" They both flew over and Nikushimi sat on Tatakau's chest as she punched him in the face. By the time she had punched him a second time he realized what had happened and managed to throw her off with only slight pain in his face from her punches.

"The hell is wrong with you?!" demanded Tatakau.

"The hell is wrong with you!?" Nikushimi retorted.

"Ok you two, stop fighting!" Moyasu shouted, pulling them apart and standing between them.

"She started it." Tatakau huffed.

"Did not!" growled Nikushimi, crossing her arms and turning away from him.

"You did! You punched me!" Tatakau argued. Nikushimi glared at him.

"Because you called me short! I am not short!" Nikushimi screeched, stomping one of her feet to prove her point.

"Both of you, stop arguing! Nikushimi, don't punch your teammate, and you aren't exactly tall, Tatakau, stop antagonizing Nikushimi! She's proved that she will try and kill you if you do." Moyasu yelled, keeping them away from each other.

"Fine, stay away from me, shorty!" Tatakau growled at Nikushimi. Nikushimi growled back in return.

"If I get my hands on you, you're as good as dead!" Nikushimi threatened, grabbing for Tatakau who stood just out of her range as Moyasu held her back. Moyasu just shook his head and sighed as Shogai tried to get Nikushimi to calm down.

'From before, I take that back, this team might not work out as well as I originally thought….'

* * *

**AN**

**And that, is her wonderful team!**

**Here's their little bios that you know right now.**

**Uchiha Tatakau(Tah, tah, kay, ooooh)- He's thirteen with the usual Uchiha traits, black hair, pale-ish skin, obsidian eyes, stubborn and rude and proud. He's actually friends with Shogai. He has seven hoops going up the cartilage in his right ear. He wears an Uchiha clan shirt and shorts. And he has his hair slicked back like Hidan's hair.**

**Garasu (Gah, rah, sue) Shogai (Sho, guy)- He's also thirteen with pale bluish silver hair and pale skin. His eyes are pale blue-white and his pupil is also a light color, looking like a Hyuuga's eye only he has a pupil you can see, it's just pale. he wears glasses and has a blue long sleeved shirt, a vest, a wristband with a curvy diamond on it, and ninja pants. He coughs a lot. **

**Kasai (Kah, sai) Moyasu (Moe, yah, sue)- He's a Jounin and his hair is colored and styled like flames. His eyes are normal, except his iris is colored like and reminds Nikushimi of flames. He has the usual Jounin attire, however on his back is a large staff that has two ties at the end, tying together a fan. Then at the top there is a red orb.**

**And that's the general description you know right now. And yes, i know, my little prounounciation things suck. Deal with it.**

**Anyway, I'm in a bad mood because today my art teacher complimented this girls crap drawing and I asked her why she never likes my manga drawings. Then, she flat out said, "I don't think its art." and she just laughed at me and walked away. Then, earlier on this month, she just ignored my Obito drawing and got mad at me for drawing manga. I want to be an animator bitch, please, common sense! **

**Bye.**


	13. The Team Test

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 13_

_The Team Test_

* * *

Moyasu stood in front of his students with a large grin adorning his face. It had taken half an hour, but he managed to separate Nikushimi and Tatakau. All it took was Nikushimi punching Tatakau a third time, Tatakau insulting her, and them being pulled to separate sides of the training field.

"Alright!" Moyasu clapped his hands together, gaining his three students attention, "Now we can finally get to our exercise that we should have started already!" Tatakau and Nikushimi shot glares at each other, each one blaming the other. Shogai, who was standing between them, sighed and shook his head.

"Tatakau, Nikushimi, please get along." Shogai begged.

"Not a chance, not until he takes back what he said about me being short!" Nikushimi huffed.

"No way, you are short and I'm not taking anything back!" Tatakau growled.

"Guys!" Moyasu got his three students attention again, "Now, in this exercise the three of you must attack me, and you need to want to kill me. The point of this exercise is for me to find out how strong you are, oh! And, whoever can make a scratch on my forehead protector," Moyasu pointed at the Leaf symbol headband that he wore like Tatakau and Shogai, "Gets a special treat!"

"What's the treat?" inquired Shogai curiously.

"Anything you want I suppose, maybe food?" Moyasu shrugged. Nikushimi grinned.

"Annnything? Like, if I want to get a new weapon holster you'd get it for me?" she questioned. Moyasu paused.

'Weapon? What weapon does she use?' he wondered.

"Sure." Moyasu nodded, not allowing his slight curiousity to show through.

'I doubt she'll be able to get me on the head so I don't have to worry.' decided Moyasu, trying to hide his smirk.

'Ooh! I can get the senbon holsters I want!' Nikushimi thought excitedly.

"Anyway, only two of you can get a special treat, so if the third hits my forehead protector it's too bad for you, unless one of the others wants to give you their special treat." Moyasu added. Nikushimi and Tatakau both glared at each other.

"But sensei, if there's only two... that means one of us will be left out." Shogai pointed out, trying to get his sensei to reconsider. Shogai really did not want his two teammates fighting over who would get the special treat, if it came down to that. Moyasu only grinned.

"I'll enjoy watching you three squabble over it… if you can even get me. Anything is allowed, weapons, Jutsu, anything. You aim to kill, basically, treat me as if I'm your enemy. As if I'm the one who killed someone important to you." Moyasu scanned his three students. Tatakau looked sure of himself, Shogai determined, and Nikushimi had a gleam in her eyes.

'Hm? I can't tell what she's thinking…' Moyasu thought. Dismissing it, he stood up and grinned at them.

"You guys have until the sun," he pointed up at the sun which was directly overhead, stating it was noon, "is almost down and the sky is orange."

"Begin!" And he was gone in an instant, leaving the three new Genin standing there, shocked.

"He's so fast!" Shogai gasped, before he coughed slightly.

"C'mon Shogai, we can take him." Tatakau ordered, running up one of the trees. Nikushimi's eyes widened.

'They can use their chakra already?!' Nikushimi thought, shocked.

"Alright, are you coming Nikushimi?" inquired Shogai as he jumped up next to Tatakau. Nikushimi looked down.

"Um…" she whispered, trying to think of an excuse.

"Leave her; she won't be able to help us!" Tatakau snapped, jumping to the next tree and disappearing.

"Nikushimi?" Shogai questioned. Nikushimi forced a slight laugh.

"You can go ahead, I'll catch up." Shogai nodded at Nikushimi and followed behind Tatakau, although he was much slower and not as steady.

'I'm already behind and it's only the first day!' Nikushimi thought in horror as she started to run through the trees in the direction Tatakau and Shogai headed. She made sure to make no noise and conserve some of her stamina as she ran through the trees, dodging things that would alert Moyasu of her presence.

"Fireball Jutsu!" Nikushimi paused and watched through the trees as Moyasu dodged a large fireball. She blinked as Moyasu jumped up to avoid something at his feet.

'Wait, I can use this to my advantage!' she thought excitedly, quickly climbing a tree. She balanced on one the branches and pulled senbon out. She waited until Moyasu was completely vulnerable while dodging Tatakau and Shogai's attacks, Tatakau was now using hand to hand combat as Shogai made hand signs in the background, obviously doing something. However Nikushimi was unable to see what exactly Shogai was doing.

Nikushimi launched her senbon, two went towards vital points that would knock him out and three went towards his forehead protector. From her other hand she threw more senbon, aiming for where she predicted he would go if he managed to avoid her attack.

Moyasu saw the flash of senbon from the corner of his eye and jumped up higher than his students were able to jump. He did a flip in midair and made a few hand signs.

'Looks like they do have brains, Tatakau and Shogai had me distracted while Nikushimi threw senbon at me. Clever, I may actually need to use some Jutsu in this fight. Not my weapon though, I'd kill them if I used my staff. And we don't need dead Genin.' Moyasu thought, not knowing he was wrong about them planning, as he completed his hand signs.

"Fire Style, Exploding Flame Shot!" Moyasu's hands glowed with fire as he threw three balls of flames, two towards Tatakau and Shogai and one towards the tree Nikushimi was perched in.

'Oh shit!' Nikushimi's eyes widened and she quickly threw herself out of the tree as the fire hit the tree and exploded. She was thrown harshly to the ground in the clearing, some of her bandages black from the heat.

"Nikushimi, are you ok?" Shogai yelled, running over to Nikushimi. The smoke around the area made him cough, but he ignored his coughing and knelt next to Nikushimi.

"I'm fine, just a bit too black for my taste." Nikushimi muttered as she stood up, brushing her arms off. Shogai looked at her now burnt bandages, some burned skin showed through.

"Shogai, c'mon!" Tatakau yelled from across the clearing as he fought against Moyasu in Taijutsu.

"Go ahead; I just need to take a second." Nikushimi ordered. Shogai nodded and made a few hand signs as he ran across the field. Nikushimi watched curiously as the ground from his feet began to come up.

'What is that?' wondered Nikushimi as suddenly some of the ground burst up. From it, a clear glassy substance shot up. Moyasu quickly leapt up to dodge it, but it quickly flew up after him.

"Fire Style, Fireball Jutsu!" yelled Moyasu, making the hand signs at rapid speeds before he shot a fireball down at the substance, It hit the substance and the substance hardened so that it no longer moved. Moyasu landed on it, smirking at Shogai. Shogai only grinned. The substance suddenly cracked and broke, more of the liquid substance wrapping around Moyasu's foot as it leaked from the cracks. It started to move up Moyasu's foot hardening as it moved up. Moyasu pulled a kunai out. He slashed at the hardened substance but nothing happened,

Tatakau jumped up at Moyasu and aimed for his forehead protector. Moyasu merely smirked and Tatakau's kunai plunged into Moyasu's head.

"Sensei?" Nikushimi called, worried that he had been injured, as Tatakau pulled his hand out, only to find that Moyasu had substituted with a log. Nikushimi let out a breath of relief when suddenly she was grabbed and pulled back. A kunai was put to her throat and one arm was around her waist to keep her from moving.

"You two, your teammate is a hostage, what do you do?" called Moyasu as he held Nikushimi. Shogai and Tatakau looked at each other.

"You wouldn't really kill Nikushimi though, so we can just go after you." pointed out Shogai. Moyasu brought the kunai into Nikushimi's neck so that a drop of crimson liquid dripped down from her bandages that concealed her neck.

"I wouldn't?" Moyasu grinned. Shogai and Tatakau both watched, Shogai frozen in place. Tatakau's face was expressionless, not showing how he felt.

"C'mon, as ninja you should know what to do. Do you let your comrade die, kill the one holding them hostage, and then as a result have them die? Or maybe give in to save your comrade, and fail the mission? What do you do? Hm?" Moyasu knelt over so that his head could rest on Nikushimi's head; he was almost three heads taller than her. Tatakau's eyes narrowed, he hated how his sensei was mocking them. More importantly, how he was mocking Tatakau.

"Sensei… you can't kill Nikushimi… you'd get in trouble for it." tried Shogai. Moyasu tilted his head to the side, pushing the kunai into Nikushimi's neck more, making more drops of blood dribble out. She gulped in response.

'Moyasu-sensei… he's acting right…Right?' Nikushimi tried to stay calm, to think. Her hands were trapped at her sides, she was unable to move and her teammates were frozen stiff. Her eyes wandered up to the sky, where it was a slight orange color.

"Moyasu-sensei," Nikushimi whispered, "The sky's orange. Our times up, right?" Moyasu looked up and laughed.

"Oh, so it is, it only felt like a few minutes. It must be because all things fun go fast. Good job staying calm Nikushimi, sorry I had to cut into your throat." Moyasu pulled his kunai from her throat and put it back in his pouch. He ruffled her hair, making her frown at him.

"W-what the hell!?" Tatakau roared after a stunned silence from Shogai and him.

"Hm? Something wrong Tatakau?" Moyasu questioned. Tatakau stomped the ground with his foot.

"The hell was that?! You're about to kill Nikushimi, then all of a sudden you have a mood swing because the sky is orange!?" yelled Tatakau.

"Tatakau, you do remember that sensei said we had until the sun was almost down and the sky was orange to defeat him, right?" Shogai inquired carefully. Tatakau blinked, then scowled.

"What was the point of that anyway? All we did was chase you around while you made us look like idiots and scare the shit out of Shogai and Nikushimi!" Tatakau growled.

"Only Nikushimi and Shogai?" mused Moyasu, raising one eyebrow and giving him a disbelieving look.

'He's prideful.' Moyasu noted.

"Of course only them, I don't care if Nikushimi lives or dies, it's not like we're friends or anything. I don't even like her." huffed Tatakau. Nikushimi frowned and looked down.

'Tatakau really doesn't like me… does he? Do Shogai and Moyasu-sensei like me?' Nikushimi thought nervously, looking at Shogai. Shogai shook his head at Tatakau, before coughing slightly.

"Tatakau, you shouldn't say such things to your comrades, I could still technically fail you three and send you back to the academy if you don't work together." Moyasu stated suddenly. Nikushimi gasped and looked up at her sensei, her eyes wide. Tatakau looked bewildered for a moment before he gained his composure and his temper flared.

"The hell are you saying? You could send us back to the academy!?" yelled Tatakau. Moyasu nodded.

"Technically, that fight we just had was to test you three to see if you're ready to become Genin, and the way most people judge their teams… well if I judged you normally you three would have failed… but I don't judge normally." Moyasu announced.

"We failed? We're being sent back to the academy?" Shogai questioned. Moyasu gave them all a serious look.

"I didn't say that, I said it matters how you were judged, and I judged you three differently than most. Your team is made up a bit strange, you three have an Uchiha, which is a powerful clan, although Uchiha's are stubborn and proud. Then there's a Garasu, another large and powerful clan, known to be loyal and courageous. Garasu's are usually willing to die for the village. And finally, Nikushimi, who isn't from a large clan in the Leaf village. Normally, the teams would be stacked so that there are Genin who complement each other, whether it be by clan or by how intelligent or powerful you are. Tatakau, there was another team of all Uchiha's this year, but there were four Uchiha's graduating, so one, you, was not placed on that team. The all Uchiha team is led by an Uchiha, and so that team is all Uchiha. That team was made up because it complements the strengths of each Uchiha and allows them to learn-" Moyasu's lecture was interrupted by Tatakau.

"So what if I wasn't placed on the team? Aren't teams just picked at random?" snapped Tatakau angrily.

"They aren't picked at random, sensei is trying to explain that Tatakau." Shogai explained. Tatakau only snorted in response. Moyasu continued.

"Because the team is all Uchiha, they can learn easily and be competitive since they would all be learning the same thing. And because it's an all Uchiha clan, they could easily train their Kekkei-Genkai, whereas if it was a team with no Uchiha sensei, and two Uchiha teammates, they wouldn't get trained to the best of their abilities. It's not unusual for teams to be stacked like that, like, you know the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka clans correct? Because they work well together, their members are always placed on a team together, no exceptions. Same with the Garasu clan, there's usually a team of all Garasu, but Shogai was the only Garasu in the academy that graduates this year so he was placed on a different team. Finally, in Nikushimi's case, she would usually be on a team with civilian ninja or lower rank clans because they don't learn special things. But because of a special condition Nikushimi was placed with us. Nikushimi is obviously stubborn and proud like you Tatakau, but she doesn't have special bloodlines like you two. Because of that, she'll learn faster with you two because she will train harder to keep up. And you two are also around the same level, so you two will be constantly competing to get stronger to outmatch the other, or at least, that's how the Hokage put it when he explained it to me." Moyasu explained. Nikushimi sighed.

"So basically, because I'm a nobody I got put on this team." she muttered. Moyasu shook his head.

"You're not a nobody Nikushimi, you're just going to have to train harder to become a great ninja since you don't have a famous clan or Kekkei-Genkai to help you." he explained carefully. Nikushimi frowned.

"But I do have a Kekkei-Genkai!" she shouted.

"And it is?" Moyasu inquired. Nikushimi looked down.

"Not helpful until I unlock it… it's actually a disadvantage right now…" she trailed. Moyasu ruffled her hair again, receiving another glare.

"Don't worry, you three will be fine. I've decided that I'm going to keep you three instead of sending you back to the academy, even though you guys really need to learn teamwork. If that had been a real hostage situation, then Nikushimi would be dead, and the mission would probably have failed too. Anyway, it's my job now as your sensei to train you guys, leave it all to me." Moyasu grinned.

"I think that you guys deserve some kind of reward for not failing that miserably, how about I take you guys out to dinner since its dark out, almost?" suggested Moyasu. The three Genin were pleased with this idea.

"Can we go to Shokuhin?" asked Shogai, fiddling with his wristband, like usual.

"Can we go to Randebu?" Nikushimi questioned, looking at Shogai who shrugged, not particularly caring that Nikushimi wanted to go somewhere else. Moyasu gave them a thoughtful look.

"Hmm, Randebu has a lot of desserts… and Shokuhin is an actual place to get real dinner… but I think we should go to Randebu because I like that place, and Nikushimi is burned and bleeding, so we should go where she wants to go." Moyasu decided, his eyes almost sparkling at the thought of the café.

"Burned and bleeding? She has a shallow cut on her neck and her bandages are burned." huffed Tatakau. Nikushimi scowled at him and opened her mouth to retort, but Moyasu gut her off before she could.

"Now now children, don't fight. Let's go get something to eat." Moyasu chided before he managed to herd them to Nikushimi and Obito's favorite café with little fighting between Nikushimi and Tatakau.

"Hello Nikushimi!" Akane called from behind the counter as she saw Nikushimi enter.

"Hi." Nikushimi replied, waving. She walked over and smiled down at Nikushimi.

"It's strange not seeing you here with your little boyfriend." she teased. Nikushimi frowned.

"Not boyfriend, friend! Friend!" Nikushimi pouted at Akane who laughed.

"I know, I'm just poking fun, so table or booth for four? Pick anywhere you want and I'll be right over." Akane chirped as she returned to the counter.

"You know the waitress here?" Moyasu questioned as he slid into the booth. Tatakau and Shogai took the other side so Nikushimi slid in next to Moyasu.

"Yeah, usually me and Obito come here every morning before training to get breakfast." Nikushimi answered. Moyasu grinned.

"And, she's fond of you?" he inquired. Nikushimi tilted her head.

"I suppose so, why?" Nikushimi questioned. Tatakau snorted.

"You're short _and_ stupid? He has the hots for the waitress, that's why he probably wanted to come!" Tatakau snorted.

"Shut up Tatakau, your comments are not wanted." Nikushimi snapped.

"Yeah Tatakau, be nice to Nikushimi." Moyasu scolded, also trying to get off the topic because it was true.

"You like Akane, Moyasu-sensei?" Nikushimi questioned. Moyasu nodded, peering over at Akane who was bustling over with a notepad.

"Yes, now the three of you, shut up." Moyasu hushed. Akane reached their table and took their orders, not noticing Moyasu in the slightest which made Nikushimi laugh. Akane's attention had mostly been on Nikushimi, asking Nikushimi how her day had been.

When Akane left, Moyasu looked at Nikushimi with a pout on his face. Shogai was laughing at him, while coughing, and Tatakau was smirking. Nikushimi just smiled innocently up at her sensei.

"Don't look so innocent, it's all a lie." Moyasu huffed teasingly before he ruffled her hair again. When their food arrived they ate relatively in silence with small talk between them every once in awhile.

After they ate they left the café and Moyasu looked down at his students with a large smile.

"Well, I think that we're going to be an amazing team, and I can't wait until training starts. I know that because you guys do individual training, training will be tough, I was thinking that tomorrow at around three in the afternoon we could meet up at our training ground and plan a training schedule, and I can assess your basic skills. Alright?" Moyasu explained.

"Ok." the three Genin replied, Tatakau looking rather bored and Nikushimi beaming. Shogai was smiling while trying not to cough loudly.

"We also really have to work on our teamwork, to be blunt, and honest, it sucks. Anyone could see that from today, Tatakau and Shogai worked well together, and I can see Nikushimi and Shogai working together… Tatakau and Nikushimi, you two have some serious work ahead of you." Moyasu laughed as Tatakau and Nikushimi shot glares at each other.

"I'm just going to get this over with now," Tatakau announced, "I don't like you, not even remotely. So far you're annoying and a brat. I couldn't care less, and if it affects teamwork, our teamwork's going to suck."

"Tatakau-" Moyasu began sternly however he was cut off.

"Tatakau!" The four turned to see a pretty woman who looked to be in her thirties approaching. She had the usual Uchiha looks, black hair, pale skin and obsidian eyes. And in her left ear there were many hoops going down her cartilage, along with two piercings in her right ear.

"Mom?" Tatakau asked as his mom stopped in front of them.

"I thought I heard you, is this your new team?" she questioned, looking at the team with a curious expression.

"Yeah." Tatakau nodded. The woman smiled brightly.

"I'm Tatakau's mom, Suteki, it's nice to meet you." Suteki bowed at her introduction.

"And it's nice to meet you as well, I'm Tatakau's sensei, Moyasu, and these are his teammates, Shogai and Nikushimi." Moyasu introduced.

"Of course I know Shogai, he and Tatakau have been friends for so long. Anyway, Tatakau, it's time we head home if you're done here. I actually came to pick you up." Suteki explained.

"We're done here." Tatakau nodded briefly.

"Shogai?" Everyone turned to see another woman who looked to be in her thirties.

"Mother." Shogai greeted with a smile. The woman smiled at him in return, and almost at the same time they coughed.

'Wow, they both look identical to their moms…' Nikushimi thought, and it was true. Tatakau and Suteki looked very similar, Tatakau only had a stronger jaw line and obviously more male face. Meanwhile, Shogai's mother had the same hair and eyes as her son and same pale complexion. She had similar glasses and around her neck was a necklace that had the same symbol of Shogai's wristband.

"You must be Shogai's new team; I see Tatakau is on your team. I'm Shogai's mother, Byoka." the woman introduced herself.

"This is my team, Tatakau, as you know, my sensei, Moyasu-sensei, and my other teammate, Nikushimi." Shogai replied, smiling at his mother. She smiled back.

"We should be getting back; I'm getting quite cold out here…" Byoka murmured. Shogai and Byoka started to walk away after bidding their goodbyes while Suteki and Tatakau left in the other direction. Tatakau's goodbye had been nothing more than a nod in Moyasu and Shogai's directions. Nikushimi and Moyasu watched them go until they disappeared.

"Hey, Nikushimi." Nikushimi looked up at her sensei curiously as he spoke, "Don't let Tatakau's words get you down. Uchiha's are like that." Nikushimi frowned.

"But my friend Obito isn't like that, and he's an Uchiha." she pointed out. Moyasu laughed.

"I suppose maybe your friend is an exception." Moyasu decided. Nikushimi blinked.

"Ne, sensei, Obito isn't on a team of all Uchiha's, is it because he's like Tatakau?" questioned Nikushimi. Moyasu shrugged.

"There are a couple other reasons why he could be on a non-Uchiha team, I wouldn't know. Anyway, since Suteki and Byoka came for their sons, would one of your parents be coming for you?" Moyasu questioned. Nikushimi frowned at the ground.

"No, they're not." Nikushimi muttered bitterly, taking off in the direction of her apartment while looking down at the ground. Moyasu jogged up to her, his apartment being in that direction too.

"Bad subject?" he questioned walking next to her while taking shorter strides than normal so he could keep pace with her.

"Sure, if that'll get you to leave the subject." Nikushimi replied as she turned onto another street that led her away from Moyasu. Moyasu watched her go down the dark street and frowned.

'She seems like a lonely kid… there are a couple things that could happen with her parents, I'll have to ask the Hokage.' Moyasu decided as he headed back to his apartment. As Moyasu reached his apartment he unlocked his door, still thinking about his new team.

'I suppose this team isn't the best match, but I think that even so they'll still managed to pull through.'

* * *

**AN**

**Fun Fact-Shogai and Tatakau have been friends since they were seven and started in the academy.**

**I love Moyasu, he's fun to write. Moyasu is going to be very amusing for me in later chapters.**

**Anyway, i didn't reply to most, if not any, of the reviews for last chapter because i had this chapter ready and knew i was putting it up soon. Obito will be back next chapter, no worries...**

**So my school is dangerous. The girls locker room's ceiling collapsed (It happened first period, my gym class is second period. My class found the remians and panicked. I just laughed at everyone else.) the lights only work half the time, the heating barely worked over the winter, and the cafeteria is trying to poison us. **


	14. The Genin Missions

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 14_

_The Genin Missions_

* * *

Nikushimi and Obito sat in their usual booth at Randebu. Both had their usual, Nikushimi a coffee with an incredulous amount of sugar and milk, and Obito, a coffee with just the right amount of milk and sugar. Both however had a new desert to try for breakfast, dango.

"Its pretty good." remarked Nikushimi as she took a bite of the sweets.

"I agree." Obito mumbled as he took a bite of his dango.

"Mm, I suppose it could be a bit sweeter but that's just my tastes talking." Nikushimi added. Obito snorted in response.

"Anyway, how was meeting your team?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi grinned, thinking of the day before.

"Well, on my team I have Garasu Shogai and Uchiha Tatakau, and my sensei is Kasai Moyasu. Shogai's pretty nice, although he doesn't say much and he coughs a lot. Tatakau is an ass, he doesn't like me. And Moyasu-sensei is nice I guess, but he used me as a hostage during our practice fight. He really did make me bleed too to prove he wasn't joking around." Nikushimi recalled.

"On my teams practice test we had to get bells from Minato-sensei, Kakashi refused to work with Rin and I, and I didn't want to work with him. Somehow, in the end, we still passed." Obito laughed, remembering his bell test.

"We had to scratch sensei's forehead protector…. no one was able to get close." Nikushimi sighed, "And I'm sad because if I had I would have gotten new holsters for my senbon." Obito laughed.

"What kind of holsters do you want?" he inquired. Nikushimi frowned.

"I want the ones that lock around my wrist and slide senbon out between my fingers from my bag using a special seal that's on both the bag and the holster. Problem is they're expensive." explained Nikushimi. Obito nodded.

"I see, my parents get me ninja tools if I need them for training." Obito replied, taking another bite of dango. Nikushimi shrugged and just took a sip of her coffee.

"Anyway, so you have your first training session with your team today? When's your first mission?" asked Obito curiously. Nikushimi shrugged again.

"Moyasu-sensei wants us to come later today, just so we can discuss things. I hope we get a mission soon… what was your first mission like? You know how mine went, you were there." Nikushimi questioned. Obito grinned.

"My first dangerous mission was kind of like yours, only we didn't have as many problems. But my first mission ever was to walk this lady's dog." Obito answered with a grin, remembering his first mission. Nikushimi blinked.

"Dog walking? That's boring… why are you grinning like that?" Nikushimi commented as Obito's grin widened.

"No reason… say why don't we get to training?" Obito inquired. Nikushimi shrugged, drinking the rest of her coffee.

"Sure I guess. You get to learn the next step in senbon today since you have balance mastered, and now you can throw kunai and shuriken while balancing, now we can finally move on to actually handling senbon." Nikushimi said with a big smile as she and Obito left the café, giving Akane the money and a tip. They walked to the training grounds where they stood underneath Nikushimi's favorite sakura tree.

"Alright, now, senbon aren't very good close combat weapons unless you have a special technique to use with them. The reason for that is that they're very thin," from her pouch Nikushimi pulled out two senbon, one she held to Obito, "They're easily broken. Go ahead and try and snap that senbon." Obito took the senbon in his hands and put each end between his pointer finger and thumbs. He pulled down and the senbon snapped in half, giving no noticeable resistance.

"But if it breaks this easy, if you're in close combat it really will do no damage." Obito commented.

"True, but it's a long distance weapon. When I throw it, you know I'm precise and I throw it at the correct pressure. I feel like we've had a similar conversation when I taught you about balance. Anyway, senbon are useful when you're trying to remain hidden and if you know the body you can easily knock someone out or kill them with a good hit to an artery or vein." lectured Nikushimi.

"So… I need to learn all about the body too?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi grinned.

"I'll give you a quick lesson now, you aim here," Nikushimi took her senbon and tapped his neck where a vein was, "And you're put them in a deathlike trance. They won't have a pulse and it will be near impossible unless you're a medic to tell they're not dead. It's excellent if you're trying to help an ally. Remember that, because it's very useful. However be careful if you pull the senbon out because the next isn't as thick as other places so you could actually do some damage to an ally." Obito nodded, filing that away for later knowledge. Now Nikushimi grinned.

"Now, the easiest thing now is to learn how to hold the senbon. Since you've just started using them, nothing advanced for you. Hold it like this, like you would a dart." Nikushimi pinch the senbon like a dart and showed it to Obito. She gave it to him while telling him to try it. As he maneuvered it in his hand she pulled out another senbon.

"Alright, this is easy." Obito nodded with a grin.

'Finally, something easy.' he thought smugly.

"Ok, so now that you're holding it like an untrained Genin, I'll show you how to throw." Nikushimi announced with a teasing grin, "Anyway you can't throw too hard, or too soft. You can try and use your chakra to help you, but too much chakra will break the senbon. I suggest trying it without chakra, to get a feel, then try using senbon. And don't break all my senbon; I don't have an unlimited supply." Nikushimi unstrapped her worn senbon pouch and passed it to Obito.

"How is this thing still holding your senbon?" Obito asked, giving the worn, ragged pouch a dubious look.

"It's a good pouch, just old. But it belonged to my mom and when I was really little she gave it to me since it is custom for my clan to learn senbon, as you should know already." Nikushimi replied proudly.

"Yeah I know, you've only told me a few million times." Obito laughed as he tested out his first throw. Nikushimi laughed and Obito sighed. His senbon had gone flying straight into the ground.

"You have to aim straight too, Obito, and aim for that target over there." Nikushimi ordered, pointing to a target on a tree a good twenty feet away. Obito groaned.

'This is going to take forever.' Obito thought sadly.

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_

Nikushimi made it to her team's training grounds quite early, and was surprised to find her sensei already sitting there on one of the logs. He looked up, his flame colored eyes locking on her as she approached slowly.

"Ah, Nikushimi, you're very early. Its only one-thirty, you were supposed to come at three!" Moyasu exclaimed with a grin, "You're more than punctual I see." Nikushimi laughed.

"I could say the same about you sensei, you were here earlier than me." pointed out Nikushimi. Moyasu nodded.

"True… so why are you here early?" he inquired. Nikushimi grinned.

"Usually I train with Obito after breakfast until one, then he usually goes to train with his team and I usually go and train or do something else. I figured I could come here and train." explained Nikushimi. Moyasu nodded again.

"You train often, don't you?" he commented. Nikushimi nodded with a serious expression on her face.

"I have to, sensei. Or else I'll be left behind. Already Tatakau and Shogai can use their chakra to jump higher, walk up trees, and move faster. My Kekkei-Genkai, although useful when I get older and unlock it, blocks my chakra until I do that. It's very restricting and makes it difficult. But if I want to protect those I care for, then I'm willing to train that hard." Nikushimi announced. Moyasu smiled and ruffled her hair, annoying her.

"Sensei, my hair is in a ponytail, you can't do that!" Nikushimi complained as she pulled her hair tie out. Moyasu ruffled her hair now that it was out, making her pout.

"Don't worry about it so much, your hair looks better down. You remind me of a cat though; your hair is soft like a cat too." Moyasu commented, ruffling her hair again and taking her hair tie away. Nikushimi frowned at him, but secretly she was enjoying this talk with her sensei. It reminded her of when Obito had complimented her hair.

"I suppose I do have catlike features, pointy teeth, pointy ears, and weird eyes with slit pupils…" trailed Nikushimi. Moyasu pat her head.

"Don't doubt yourself, I can tell you are. Now, since you're here early, why don't I test you out and give you some advice before the boys get here?" suggested Moyasu. Nikushimi grinned.

"Yes!" Nikushimi nodded vigorously.

"Alright, now, I know that you can use somewhat adeptly use senbon, I know that you are more advanced in your class in the knowledge portion, however your grades suffered dramatically because of your inability to use chakra. What else should I know?" inquired Moyasu. Nikushimi blinked and made a thoughtful face.

"Well, Obito says my Taijutsu could improve a lot, I'm good with weapons and in my mission with Team Minato I was able to defend myself against one of the enemy ninja." Nikushimi answered, omitting he part about her killing Saiken.

"Alright," Moyasu nodded, "So I suppose we can test your weapon skills, then I can help you with Taijutsu… I suppose that you have clan Jutsu you also need to learn to help with your Kekkei-Genkai, so if you need help with that then I will help as much as possible. Right now, using senbon, shuriken, and kunai, hit that stump over there." Moyasu pointed to a stump across the clearing, which was a good forty feet away.

"Alright." Nikushimi nodded and within seconds she had launched senbon at it, hitting it in a perfect row. Next she threw shuriken, which embedded into the stump with only one shuriken being slightly off. Finally she threw her kunai which landed well, with only one kunai being slightly off.

"Good. You are very adept with weapons for your age, so now I think we can focus on your Taijutsu. Take an offensive stance." Moyasu ordered. Nikushimi blinked and slid into a stance with one hand by her senbon pouch, the other on her knee while her legs were spread far apart.

"I don't mean to be an asshole," Moyasu stated, "But what the hell is that stance?" Nikushimi shrugged, standing up straight.

"It's a clan stance, however I don't think I did it right, nor would it help me much since I can't use my Kekkei-Genkai." answered Nikushimi. Moyasu sighed.

"Do you know any other stances?" he questioned. Then he let out an exasperated sigh when Nikushimi shook her head. He had work to do, Moyasu decided.

By the time Tatakau and Shogai showed, Nikushimi knew a few stances and was now working on moving. Her movements were fluid and graceful, like one of a dancer. She was very balanced and surefooted.

"Ah, we can stop now Nikushimi, Shogai and Tatakau are here." Moyasu announced, and Nikushimi stopped and grinned at her sensei.

"Alright, everyone take a seat on these logs." Moyasu ordered, taking a seat on his own log. Nikushimi took the one closest to Moyasu, while Shogai took the one next to her. Tatakau sat next to Shogai with a scowl evident on his face.

"Good afternoon Nikushimi." Shogai greeted Nikushimi.

"Hey Shogai." replied Nikushimi with a small smile.

"Alright, so today I'm going to get a feel of your abilities. I already tested Nikushimi, so that means that you guys get to leave early today. Then tomorrow we have our first mission together." Moyasu explained.

Nikushimi yawned as Moyasu began to test Tatakau, leaving her next to Shogai. Shogai looked at her and sighed.

"Sorry for Tatakau's words yesterday, Nikushimi." he apologized. Nikushimi laughed.

"It's no big deal, besides, he doesn't care. If I get an apology it should be from him." she huffed. Shogai sighed again, then coughed. When his coughing fit was done he started to fiddle with his wrist band.

"Tatakau used to be a lot nicer to everyone when we were kids, before his father left them." Shogai commented. Nikushimi shrugged.

"He lost his father? I suppose it hurts to lose a family member." Nikushimi replied vaguely.

"It does, my father died a few years ago too. But, I had been expecting my father to die. I had been prepared because he was very sick. He could hardly leave the hospital, I was happy when he died because I knew he wouldn't be in pain any longer when he died." Shogai nodded.

"I see. But death doesn't excuse actions of those who still live." Nikushimi replied tersely.

"But Tatakau's father didn't die, Kaun left them. He didn't want to be a ninja any longer, so he left the village and left Tatakau and his mom all alone. Tatakau's father had no excuse either. He just, up and left. Suteki likes to believe it's because he got lazy, but I think it's a different reason." Shogai explained. Nikushimi blinked.

"Do you think he cheated on Suteki?" questioned Nikushimi. Shogai looked up, making sure Tatakau wasn't nearby.

"Yes, I believe that. Don't speak a word of this conversation to Tatakau by the way, he'll have a fit and not be happy with either of us." Shogai told Nikushimi.

"Got it… looks like sensei wants you next… and Tatakau probably won't want to sit by me." Nikushimi murmured as Moyasu gestured for Shogai to come over. Shogai sighed.

"Don't hold Tatakau's attitude against him… he's a nice person once you get to know him." Shogai repeated as he ran over to where Moyasu was. And, as Nikushimi predicted, Tatakau stood and leaned on a tree across the clearing from her.

'It kind of hurts… to be left alone.' Nikushimi thought as she looked down.

Nikushimi decided that she didn't like being alone.

_o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_

The next day Squad Thirteen received their first mission together. They stood in the Hokage office, Tatakau wearing a jacket because it was slowly getting colder as they reached the middle of November. Shogai too adorned a jacket which he wore his vest over. Both boys now wore pants too. Meanwhile, Moyasu had only substituted his short sleeved undershirt to a long sleeved one under his Jounin jacket. Nikushimi hadn't changed at all.

"Aren't you cold?" questioned Shogai as they stood in the Hokage's office, the Hokage going through mission requests, trying to find a well matched one for the Genin team before him.

"Even if I am, I don't have winter clothes that I can train in." answered Nikushimi. Tatakau snorted.

"What are you, dirt poor? If you're freezing to death how can you be a ninja." Tatakau mocked. Nikushimi scowled.

"At least I don't have girly earrings." she snapped. Tatakau growled.

"It's the branch my family's on tradition. My mom has her earrings, her cartilage earrings, each meaning a different thing, and then she had her two in her lobe showing she has a son and has… had a husband." Tatakau snarled.

"Tatakau, Nikushimi, behave." Moyasu muttered as the Hokage peered up at them. Tatakau and Nikushimi settled for glaring at each other from the corners of their eyes.

"Alright, I've found an important mission for you all to complete." The Hokage announced as he found a mission. What the three Genin missed was the jovial grin the Hokage held.

"Your important mission is," The Hokage paused as a humorous glint passed through his eyes, "To find and capture a lost cat." Tatakau's eyes widened.

"What!? We're ninja, not cat finders!" he protested angrily.

"I have to agree with Tatakau… it's not really a ninja mission." Nikushimi commented.

"It isn't." agreed the Hokage, "But you three are only Genin, the lowest ninja rank above being in the academy. You three are new Genin at that, so you're not prepared for leaving the village on an actual mission."

"But I was sent out on a mission." pointed out Nikushimi. The Hokage nodded.

"True, but you had special conditions. You went out with a high ranked team on a low ranked mission. You were already ready to graduate, yet you couldn't because of your Kekkei-Genkai. That was just a test to see if you would be able to handle being a ninja, and you passed." the Hokage explained.

"Oh…" Nikushimi trailed quietly. Moyasu, to try and make her feel better, ruffled her hair. She looked up so that she could see her sensei and he grinned down at her.

"Don't worry; we'll get a good mission soon. Maybe there will be a C ranked mission that will be suited for us soon." suggested Moyasu, which made Nikushimi slightly happier.

"You are to find a cat named Koneko, here is a picture." announced the Hokage, holding up a picture of a gray cat with a red ribbon around its neck. Narrowed amber eyes were staring at the person who had been taking the picture.

"Oh, _that_ cat… we're in trouble." Nikushimi sighed.

"You know the cat?" questioned Moyasu. Nikushimi nodded slowly.

"When Obito and I were collecting paw prints we went after Koneko… she's fast and cunning. And when she's cornered, she will attack." Nikushimi reported.

"Well, you have all day, I suggest you get moving then." suggested the Hokage with an amused look. Nikushimi groaned as Moyasu herded her and her teammates out.

And that was how they came to the point of chasing a cat down.

"Get it! Get it!" screeched Nikushimi as she dove for Koneko, but missed. Koneko then ran down an alleyway where Tatakau waited for her, like Shogai had planned. Instead of being passive though, like however Tatakau, Shogai, and Moyasu assumed, Koneko flew at Tatakau spitting a hissing like she was rabid.

"Shit!"Tatakau swore as Koneko's claws dug into his face. Koneko scratched his face deeply before she took off in the now open direction. Shogai came out from his spot and began to chase Koneko down as Nikushimi followed at a slower pace, laughing at Tatakau who was continuously swearing about his face.

"Damn cat!" shouted Tatakau, taking off after Shogai and Koneko. When Tatakau and Nikushimi caught up to Koneko and Shogai they were heading towards the hot springs.

"Tatakau, Shogai, you go after her, I'll go around!" Nikushimi called, breaking off and leaving her two teammates confused. However they soon learned when Koneko flew through the hot springs.

"We have no choice." Shogai decided, taking off into the hot springs, Tatakau following behind him. They ran through the mixed bath, the female bath, and the men's bath. The female bath had luckily been empty, saving the two boys from embarrassment. Nikushimi caught up with them as they ran through the woods, right behind Koneko.

"How'd you know?" Shogai questioned, breathing heavily as he coughed slightly.

"When Obito and I chased her she did the same thing." explained Nikushimi. Shogai just nodded, unable to speak as his eyes watered from how harsh he was coughing. He stopped at that point and waved on for Tatakau and Nikushimi to continue. They did.

They chased Koneko throughout the village for quite a while until she headed into the Uchiha district. They ran throughout the district, receiving humored looks from some and annoyed from others. Itachi had seen Nikushimi and waved, then realized what she was doing and smirked. Then Nikushimi had yelled a greeting to Obito as they passed his house where he and what Nikushimi guessed to be his parents were.

"Nikushimi?" Obito managed to yell in surprise as she and Tatakau flew past as fast as they could. Tatakau had exhausted his chakra abilities a few minutes into the Uchiha district after an entire day of running around with it so now he and Nikushimi were evenly matched in speed.

"You go left, I go right!" ordered Tatakau as Koneko ran into an alley. Nikushimi nodded and took the route to the left while Tatakau went right. The roads both hooked around to the end of the alley where they both managed to corner Koneko. Then, Obito, who had run after them blocked the path that Koneko had run down. She was completely cornered.

"Shit!" Koneko once again leapt at Tatakau, claws drawn. She clawed his face and then went to jump away, only for Moyasu to appear and catch Koneko. He pet her a few times and she began to purr.

"Good job guys, where's Shogai?" Moyasu inquired as he looked over Tatakau and Nikushimi. Upon seeing Tatakau's face, he laughed.

"Your face is very cut up Tatakau, you look like you tried to kiss a shredder." commented Moyasu. Nikushimi laughed and pointed Tatakau.

"Shut up!" he snapped, turning from her and crossing his arms.

"What are you guys doing?" Obito questioned, coming from the alleyway.

"Obtio!" Nikushimi exclaimed, her grin breaking into a smile.

"We caught Koneko!" she announced happily, Moyasu handed her the cat at her request. However as soon as Koneko was in her arms, her claws were out and Nikushimi's arms were soon bleeding from the cat.

"Ouch! Bad cat! Sensei, take it back!" cried Nikushimi throwing the cat towards her sensei. The cat hissed and flipped in midair before taking off, only to be caught by Shogai who had a net.

"Shogai!" Nikushimi grinned, ignoring the pain in her now sliced up arms, "…Where'd you get the net?"

"I figured we would need it, so after I recovered from my coughing fit I got a net and came looking for you guys." explained Shogai. Nikushimi sighed.

"We should have used a net in the first place…" she trailed. Moyasu jut laughed and ruffled her hair.

"No worries kid, we got the feisty feline, let's get it back to the Hokage before it manages to get loose again." decided Moyasu as he calmed the cat to the point he could carry it.

"See you tomorrow Obito!" Nikushimi called to her friend as she hurried after her team that was leaving.

"Bye!" Obito called back.

When they reached the Hokage's office, a man put the cat in a small cage and took it away, spitting and hissing.

"I really hope that cat wasn't rabid." muttered Tatakau bitterly.

"You're already rabid though, the cat wouldn't make a difference." Nikushimi smirked.

"Yeah, and you're short!" retorted Tatakau. Nikushimi's eyes narrowed and she began growling.

"Short? I will end you!" Nikushimi ran to get Tatakau however Moyasu held her back by her shirt. He gave the Hokage a big grin.

"We completed the mission, Hokage-sama." Moyasu stated. The Hokage only raised an eyebrow at his students, Shogai was trying to pacify Nikushimi, who was trying to kill Tatakau, who was still taunting her.

"Oh don't worry about them, they're just high spirited." Moyasu waved it off.

"Guys," Moyasu hissed in a whisper to his Genin, "Shut up and stop fighting… at least until we get outside!" Nikushimi stopped and they managed to get out of the Hokage's office before another fight between Nikushimi and Tatakau started. Shogai and Moyasu gave each other a look.

"What do you think it will take to get them to get along?" Shogai asked Moyasu. Moyasu blinked, then sighed.

"Nothing short of maybe a war… or maybe death." Moyasu answered, shaking his head at his two students. Tatakau smirked at Nikushimi.

"Shorty." he taunted.

"I AM NOT SHORT!"

* * *

**AN**

**Fun Fact- Obito is almost over a head taller than Nikushimi. Shogai is half a head, Tatakau is in between Shogai and Obito's heights. Moyasu towers over Nikushimi being two heads taller than her. **

**I went to a con today. I enjoyed it very much. My dad though, did not. He is convinced that all the cosplayers (I almost tackled a girl wearing an Akatsuki cloak, two were dressed as Naruto, one girl was Dio from Mad Father, and there was a guy dressed as Minato) were going to kill me. I was going to wear my Konan wig, but wigs hate me. So I gave up. Maybe next year. And they had an animation class. And a drawing class. And I had one of the professionals draw Obito. But, I didn't get kid Obito. I got adult Obito, you know, from the latest manga? I was amazed. And happy. I now have Obito's picture above my bed, staring down at me.**

**Anyway, next chapter starts the next arc which I am going to have to create more OCs for… damn it.**

**And in this chapter, if there are errors, I don't look it over too much… and I have no patience for Betas truthfully…**

**Bye.**


	15. Mission in the Fumo Wastelands

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 15_

_Mission in the Fumo Wastelands_

* * *

It was the very end of November when Nikushimi and her team had to hunt down Koneko a second time. However it ended up much like the first time, Nikushimi laughing repeatedly at Tatakau as he was injured. Then, in the end, Koneko would attack her before they got her back to the Hokage's office.

"I warned you about karma Nikushimi." Shogai preached as they sat in the Hokage's office the next day, Nikushimi having extra bandages on her left arm where Koneko had taken a large chomp out of her. It would take some time for even Nikushimi, a rather fast healer, to heal.

"You laughed at Tatakau when Koneko attacked him." Shogai answered, gesturing to Tatakau who was being moody in the corner. He had multiple bandages all over his face and more scratch marks not covered. Tatakau glared at Nikushimi and Moyasu, standing beside his students, just shook his head as they watched the Hokage shift through papers.

"Alright, for you today I have either babysitting the Ikimono children or dog walking." The Hokage announced, looking up at them for them to pick. Nikushimi and Tatakau both groaned simultaneously.

"Can't we take an escort or something?" questioned Tatakau.

"All you ever have us do is chase down a rapid cat, babysit obnoxious children, or walk dogs that are bigger than me!" complained Nikushimi and Moyasu chuckled, remembering the last time they walked dogs. Nikushimi hadn't been walking the dog, it had been pulling her. When the Hokage looked at Moyasu with a serious look, Moyasu got serious and looked at his students.

"You guys aren't ready for an escort mission yet." Moyasu stated, "You guys can't work together no matter how hard you try… and I doubt you've tried yet." Tatakau and Nikushimi shared glares.

"It's his fault for being an ass!" Nikushimi shouted, pointing at Tatakau.

"Me? It's you! She's the one causing all the problems!" Tatakau retorted, pointing at Nikushimi.

"Guys, stop fighting and let's just take a mission!" Shogai tried, but he wasn't loud enough to be heard by Nikushimi or Tatakau since they were throwing each other evil looks.

"Nikushimi, Tatakau, stop glaring at each other!" scolded Moyasu.

"She/he started it!" Both protested simultaneously, before shooting another glare at each other.

"Both of you shut up!" hissed Moyasu so that the Hokage wouldn't hear.

"I suppose I could send you on an escort mission…" mused the Hokage, "But the only ones we have available are more for experienced ninja because they involve guarding an entire caravan, not just a person."

"So send another experienced team with us!" suggested Nikushimi. Tatakau and Shogai, both liking her idea, nodded.

"Have you three ever been to the Fumo Wastelands?" questioned the Hokage. Moyasu sighed and his three students shook their heads.

"They're not exactly wastelands… but it's very dangerous there so that's why they're referred to as wastelands. No one lives there either except for bandits and criminals." explained Moyasu.

"What's so dangerous about it?" inquired Shogai, stifling a cough.

"It has very high desolate cliffs with no protection or vegetation. They're rocky and crumble easily. Off the cliff is a series of tunnels, valleys and canyons. For some reason though vegetation grows down there with large trees, poisonous plants, and quicksand." the Hokage lectured sternly. Although, he was exaggerating slightly to scare the Genin. The plants weren't always poisonous, and there was very little quicksand. However the rest was true.

"So? We can take that, as long as we stay to the cliffs." Tatakau snorted indignantly.

"I agree with Tatakau for once." added Nikushimi, Shogai nodding.

"I don't know if we're ready, all three of us would need to be able to use our chakra for that…" trailed Moyasu. Tatakau glowered at Nikushimi.

"I'll be fine sensei, trust me! I promise I'll be fine! And I never ever go back on my promises!" Nikushimi pleaded. Moyasu looked down at her. He sighed as her big, pleading eyes stared at him.

"It's not that I don't doubt that you'll be fine Nikushimi, but it's very dangerous even with chakra. You would be at a high disadvantage." Moyasu warned.

"I'll be fine sensei, seriously!" Nikushimi cried. Moyasu turned to the Hokage.

"We're willing to take that option, Hokage-sama." Moyasu announced.

"Alright, meet tomorrow morning at the gates. The team you'll be going with will be there." the Hokage ordered, passing Moyasu a copy of the mission scroll which he put in one of his Jounin jacket pockets. Moyasu herded his team out o the Hokage building and they stood out in the street, Moyasu giving them a serious look.

"Alright, so we somehow managed to get a higher ranked mission, I'm going to set rules for this mission. One, listen to me and the other Jounin on the mission. Two, when we're traveling, stay away from danger. Especially you Nikushimi, you can't use chakra to stick to the ground like everyone else can," Moyasu gave Nikushimi a pointed look as he spoke, "Three, always have someone with you. There are bandits everywhere on that trail because it's a highly used trail to get to the far west to trade. It's an easy attack point and bandits will pick you off if you stray too far from each other. And finally, four, don't die." Moyasu gave them all a cheerful smile.

"Alright sensei." Nikushimi chirped, nodding. She obviously wasn't scared of his rules. Moyasu grinned at her and ruffled her hair.

"Alright, now arrive tomorrow at sunrise at the gates so we can get to a safe point in the wasteland by nightfall." ordered Moyasu before he started to walk off. Shogai bid Nikushimi a good day before he and Tatakau took off in a different direction, leaving Nikushimi alone for the day.

She headed home and took a quick shower. Then she began organizing her things for the mission. Placing her backpack on the table she went into her room where she grabbed a small scroll that required barely any chakra to store things in. She placed a few medium sized ration bars, matches, two bottles of water, and a few extra kunai and shuriken in there. She sealed them with slight difficulty and then set the scroll on the table.

In her next scroll, which was slightly bigger, she put two changes of clothes, a few rolls of bandages, and a medical kit. She took out a third scroll which already was full of extra senbon. Then, lastly her fourth scroll contained a sleeping bag. She put the four scrolls and her backpack on the table and left the scrolls out in case she needed to add anything in the morning. She also left an extra scroll in case she needed another.

Next Nikushimi ran out to the library. She rushed through the market to get there and then she pushed through the heavy doors. However she ended up knocking someone over.

"Oh, sorry!" Nikushimi yelped, upon noticing she knocked someone over. She helped them up and they laughed.

"Its fine, I probably shouldn't just stand by the door like that." the girl dismissed. Nikushimi's eyes widened. She was very pretty. Long waves of sky blue hair fell down her back and her vibrant mint green eyes complimented her pale complexion.

"I'm Uragiri by the way, I'm new to the village… by any chance are you a ninja?" Uragiri questioned, her eyes scanning over Nikushimi until they landed on the headband tied around her waist, "You are!" Nikushimi nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi and don't you forget it!" chirped Nikushimi.

"You're a Genin right?" inquired Uragiri. Nikushimi frowned.

"How do you know?" she inquired. Uragiri laughed.

"You're pretty young." she answered.

"And how old are you?!" huffed Nikushimi.

"Twelve." Uragiri answered proudly. Nikushimi pouted.

"Well I'm only eleven! And I'll be twelve really soon!" Nikushimi muttered.

'Really soon… it's only a few weeks away.' Nikushimi thought.

"Eleven? But you're so short…" Uragiri murmured. Nikushimi sighed and shook her head before looking up proudly.

"I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet! You just wait and see! I'll tower over everyone!" Nikushimi yelled, then quieting down when she remembered she had just entered the library. Uragiri laughed.

"Well, I have somewhere to be, I hope I see you around Nikushimi." Uragiri said cheerfully as she exited the library. Nikushimi paused in the doorway curiously. Then a large grin slid onto her face.

'I think I just found the opportunity for a new friend.' Nikushimi thought gleefully as she walked through the library. She searched it thoroughly until she found the section on Jutsu. She pulled out a book about chakra control and plopped down to read.

After some time of reading, Nikushimi learned a lot about chakra… just nothing about how she could bring her chakra out. She sighed as she left after putting the book back. Then, that night, she searched through all her family scrolls she had. She read a few, learning about the Jutsu. But still, nothing on her chakra. The only ones that seemed like they would be helpful were the Koka Chi Tetsu and the Ketsueki Ora Buki. The two could be used as Jutsu's, however they didn't require hand signs. Just concentration, practice, and skill. Three things that Nikushimi wouldn't be able to get by the next day. She still memorized how to use the techniques though even though she couldn't use them.

Then, that night, she slept soundly. She dreamt of the day that her Kekkei-Genkai would show, and she would be able to call herself not weak.

_^The Next Day^_

The next morning Nikushimi woke at dawn, then she ran around her apartment so that she wouldn't be late.

"I'm going to be late and Moyasu-sensei won't be happy!" Nikushimi muttered under her breath as she ran out of the bathroom, still wrapping bandages around her left arm. She finished and threw the roll of bandages left on the couch and she reached for her scrolls. They fell to the floor and Nikushimi cursed under her breath as she crouched down and felt for them. Finding them all she quickly jumped up and dropped them into her black backpack.

Nikushimi swung it onto her back as she exited her home and pulled her door shut. She locked it, dropped her key into the plant at the end of the hallway and then started to sprint. She exited her building, almost knocking over one of her neighbors. She continued on, yelling her apology back at the disgruntled and annoyed man. She arrived at the gate to find her team and a familiar team.

"Nikushimi? You're coming with us on another mission?" Rin questioned, turning around. Nikushimi grinned upon seeing Team Minato, minus Obito who was most likely running late.

"You're the other team we're going with? That's great!" cheered Nikushimi. Rin laughed, her brown eyes closing slightly.

'Huh… I remember Obito telling me he likes Rin… I suppose I see why.' Nikushimi thought, examining Rin. Rin was a cut girl; her brown hair cut not too short, but short enough for it not to get in the way in a fight. Her brown eyes were rather doe like and she usually had a smile on her face.

"I'm glad; I can get to know you more on the mission." Rin decided, smiling at Nikushimi.

"Don't slow us down again." Kakashi deadpanned from behind Rin.

"Shut up Kakashi!" snapped Nikushimi, huffing and turning. Moyasu and Shogai sighed.

"Nikushimi has spunk and soul, I'll give her that, but her sass really gets her in a lot of arguments." Moyasu muttered to Shogai, Shogai nodding in agreement.

"Although without all that then she wouldn't be Nikushimi." Shogai pointed out.

"I wish she would get rid of all that, then maybe she wouldn't be so annoying." Tatakau commented, shooting Nikushimi and annoyed look. Nikushimi though didn't notice; too busy chatting cheerfully with Rin.

"Don't be so mean to her Tatakau," Shogai admonished, "She's our teammate and you haven't stopped going off on her yet." Tatakau merely snorted in response.

"Then tell her to stop getting on my nerves." he huffed, turning away from Shogai.

"Moyasu." Moyasu's attention turned from watching his students bicker to look at Minato. Moyasu's face split into a grin.

"Ah, Minato-senpai." greeted Moyasu. Minato sighed.

"I'm not your senpai, Moyasu. Just call me Minato, or give me one of your nicknames." Minato ordered. Moyasu laughed.

"I'll think of a name for you eventually. Until then you're my senpai. I've been thinking of names for my students though, I've got one for Nikushimi. None for Tatakau or Shogai though." Moyasu mused.

"What's the name you came up with?" inquired Minato, actually quite curious. Moyasu grinned and looked to make sure no one was listening in. When he decided no one was, he leaned over to Minato.

"Squirt." Moyasu whispered, grinning. Minato chuckled.

"She's not going to be very happy with that one." Minato informed him before getting to business, "What I came over here for is to let you know that the reports from the trail say most of the bandits have been wiped out." Moyasu blinked, then frowned.

"By what?" he questioned. Minato shook his head, closing his eyes.

"We don't know, we just have to hope that whatever or whoever did it doesn't come after us. Your team is made up of fresh Genin, keep them away from fights. And do your job as their sensei." Minato replied, turning and walking over to where the caravan was. Moyasu looked to his students with a grim look. Nikushimi and Rin were laughing while Shogai and Tatakau were talking. But one could tell Tatakau was quite happy, as was Shogai.

'We're going out on a real mission…' Moyasu thought, looking up at the sky, 'And there's a threat out there that can attack us.' A wind blew through the area, the trees rustling. A single leaf fell from its branch, wafting through the air slowly. Moyasu held out his hand and it landed there, his eyes on it.

'My students could die.' Moyasu realized, and he clenched his fist.

"I will not let it come to that." he vowed quietly, before walking over to help Minato talk to those with the caravan.

Meanwhile Obito was just approaching the gates quickly. He had his jacket in his arms, and he was trying to fix the shirt he put over his mesh shirt during the winter. He had his bag on his other arm as he tried to pull his jacket on.

"Obito, you're late!" Kakashi called irritably as Obito dashed up to them.

"You should have been up by now already, we usually have our training session around now." Obito heard Nikushimi yell. He turned to see her standing there next to Rin, arms crossed with a grin on her face. He felt his face heat up slightly because of the two girl's stares and he quickly fixed his shirt and pulled his jacket on. He ran his hand through his hair, and gave Rin and Nikushimi a sheepish look.

"Eh, I stopped to help my neighbor you see, so I was a bit late." Obito lied quickly as he pulled his goggles from his forehead down over his eyes. Nikushimi snorted.

"Liar, you just overslept." Nikushimi muttered before she walked up to him and fixed his forehead protector, making it straight. This was a task that required her to reach as high as she could.

"You're too tall." Nikushimi huffed when Rin laughed at the two.

"You two are so funny." she commented before Moyasu whistled to get their attention. They turned and watched along with Shogai, Tatakau and Kakashi.

"Alright guys, listen up. We need one in the front, one in the back, and at least two on each side. Moyau and I broke it up where you'll be standing; Moyasu and I have the front and back. Rin, Kakashi and Shogai have the left side and Nikushimi, Obito, and Tatakau have the right side." Minato announced. Nikushimi groaned.

"I'm not going to walk with her!" Tatakau protested, pointing at Nikushimi.

"And what's so wrong with standing next to Nikushimi?" Obito retorted for Nikushimi whose face was slightly red from rage.

"She's annoying." Tatakau sneered. Moyasu turned to Minato with a sigh.

"Still think that's a good idea?" questioned Moyasu. Minato nodded.

"It's good to keep the two Uchiha's together, and Nikushimi would walk with Obito regardless of what we tell her to do. Shogai, Kakashi and Rin will listen though." Minato answered with a nod. He looked to the teams.

"You three will be on that side, you guys need to. I have a strategy planned out for it." Minato commanded. Nikushimi frowned but nodded, Obito nodding next to her. Tatakau scoffed, but nodded anyway.

"Alright, then we're all ready to leave, are you ready?" Minato turned to the caravan. After receiving a nod from the clients they took off.

Nikushimi and Obit happily chatted as they walked through the Fire country while Tatakau followed behind them, brooding. On the other side, Shogai and Rin had a peaceful conversation while Kakashi eyed the trees as they passed. Moyasu and Minato were at ease while they moved through the Fire Country. However when they reached the wasteland, their entire demeanor changed.

"We've reached the wasteland, keep your eyes peeled!" Minato called as they entered the pass.

The pass was a high cliff, wide enough for two caravans. The caravan traveled in the middle while the two teams stayed somewhat to the side by the edge. Nikushimi dared to look down and gulped.

"Moyasu-sensei wasn't kidding; it's a far way down." Nikushimi commented, causing Obito to look over.

"It's a far way down for sure, even if you were slowed down by the tree branches you'd most likely die unless extremely lucky and even slowing your descent would still get you hurt badly." Obito agreed.

"You two are such babies, it's not that bad." Tatakau taunted, looking over the edge. His face paled as he looked over, but he didn't let his slight fear show.

'Damn, it is a far way down. If we fall over we're dead.' Tatakau thought, and a passing thought of him falling over made him shiver.

"Scared Tatakau?" Nikushimi teased, seeing him shiver.

"No way, if anyone's scared it's you, shorty!" retorted Tatakau. Nikushimi's face turned red and Obito frowned.

"I am not short, asshole!" Nikushimi yelled.

"Guys, keep it down! We want to get through here without being attacked!" Moyasu ordered from his position behind the caravan.

"You are too; you're so short you look like you're five." Tatakau snapped, although quieter than before.

"I will end you!" Nikushimi growled, stopping. Obito grabbed her arm and tried to tug her along, however the ground shaking caught their attention.

'An earthquake? We're doomed if this part of the cliff crumbles!' Nikushimi realized. They were very close to the edge, so close that with wrong false move Nikushimi could easily fall off the cliff.

The caravan suddenly stopped, and yelling occurred at the front. Nikushimi, Obito, and Tatakau ran up to the front where they found their attacker.

A woman with long hot pink hair stood in front of the caravan, two fans in her hands. Moyasu and Minato stood there; kunai's drawn in front of the carriage.

"She's not too bad on the eyes." Moyasu commented lightly, his eyes scanning her over. However he was obviously very tense and ready for a fight. Nikushimi frowned, noting the woman's attire. A red bikini styled top was all that covered her generous chest and black shorts. Two holsters were around her waist, but they were empty and were what her fans had most likely been held in previously.

"Sensei, you pervert." Nikushimi muttered under her breath, but her hand inched closer to her senbon pouch.

"Earth Style, Earth Crumble!" shouted a man's voice. Tatakau's eyes widened as the ground beneath him began to crumble. Before anyone could react, a large portion of the cliff was crumbling. With a loud shout, Nikushimi began to fall backwards with the crumbling cliff. Obito reached out to grab her hand, and he did, but his balance failed and he was pulled forward as the earth beneath him crumbled. Within seconds, the portion of cliff that Tatakau, Nikushimi and Obito had been standing on was gone with only some dust floating in the air remaining. The three that had been standing on that edge were now gone over the edge of the high cliff.

"Nikushimi! Tatakau!" Moyasu yelled, on the other side Shogai's eyes widened. The dust in the air made him cough, however he focused on making hand signs.

The clear substance erupted from the ground around him and in sharp shards flew at the woman, however the woman when hit only poofed into a pile of rocks.

"A rock clone." Moyasu muttered, looking around. The caravan was unharmed, and the two adversaries were gone. But so were two of his students and Obito.

"What do we do now?" questioned Rin, worrying about Nikushimi and Obito.

"Leave them, they're dead." Kakashi stated, not really caring what happened to any of the three.

"Shogai?" Moyasu knelt next to Shogai, who was coughing, his eyes red.

"I-I'm fine sensei, the dust is agitating me…" Shogai stuttered, coughing. However this wasn't like one of Shogai's usual coughs, this one was covering something. Moyasu examined Shogai closer to find that tears were gathering in his eyes.

'Tatakau is his best friend..' Moyasu realized. He pat Shogai's shoulder and stood.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine. We can come back for them later." Moyasu promised him, although both doubted it was true. He looked over to the cliff and his heart dropped.

Moyasu highly doubted that anyone would be fine from a fall that high.

* * *

**AN**

**So here begins another short mission arc. As you can see, we have an amazing cliffie here. Literally. Ha.**

**Fun Fact- Moyasu is flirt. He's no Jiraiya pervert, but he does admire many girls and isn't above admiring his enemies. **

**So this arc isn't very long, possibly three chapters, this one, the next one, and the one after that. I've decided to call this arc the "Tatakau's Mission Arc" **


	16. An Unlucky Fall

_**Crimson Stained **_

_Chapter 16_

_An Unlucky Fall_

* * *

The air rushed around Nikushimi as she fell backwards. Her heart was in her throat and it was beating fast.

'I am going to die here.' she thought, eyes wide as her hair flew up past her face, the wind pulling it. Suddenly though an arm wrapped around her waist and she was pulled to someone's chest. Another arm wrapped around her and she realized it was Obito that had grabbed her.

"Hold on tight, Nikushimi." he yelled as he tried to use his chakra to stick to the cliff wall. However it only slowed his descent slightly. Tatakau was trying the same thing; however both were having a problem. They were falling fast and the wall wasn't gripping their chakra.

'This is strange… why isn't our chakra working?' wondered Obito, when a thought hit him.

"It must be a Jutsu!" Obito yelled to Tatakau. Tatakau nodded and turned his head to watch the upcoming trees.

"Watch out!" Tatakau warned, however he was unable to dodge as he hit a tree harshly. He curled his legs and arms to him and he bounced from tree to tree. It seemed like forever before his sore body hit the ground. A sickening crack was heard and searing pain came from the hand he handed landed on. Tatakau grit his teeth, so as not to yell in agony.

Then Obito fell through the trees, he was facing the sky and was shielding Nikushimi the best he could. Obito fell through the trees, bouncing from each one. At one point, his backpack had been thrown from his body, it not taking the force of the trees hitting it. Then a loud thud sounded as he hit the ground harshly. Obito let go of Nikushimi at this point and she slowly and gently moved off of Obito, who had yet to speak or move. His face was twisted from the pain.

"Obito? Are you ok?" whispered Nikushimi worriedly as she took in his pain filled look.

"I don't know." Obito murmured, opening his eyes slowly, "I can't really move very well. I think one of the branches or the ground made me injure my back. I can't move very well." Nikushimi bit her lip and looked over to where Tatakau was slowly sitting up.

"Tatakau? Are you ok?" she called.

"Would you call this ok?" he snapped, holding his left hand up. Nikushimi bit her lip harder. His hand was mutilated. His fingers all broken, bent at angles that obviously left them broken, possibly in half. Then his handed was bloody, a bone protruding from the skin the cause.

"We should bandage that." Nikushimi muttered, standing. She walked over to Tatakau and crouched down, pulling her bandages from her pouch. She frowned when she looked at Tatakau. Scratches and bruises covered his showing skin and his clothes were torn in places.

"We should find some shelter after I bandage your hand, or at least somewhere where we're out of the open." Nikushimi decided as she looked at Tatakau's hand. He didn't protect, he figured she was the most medically apt person around at the moment.

"I'm going to push the bone back in, when we meet up with Rin later she can mend the bone. But you won't be able to even twitch this hand until she looks at it." Nikushimi informed Tatakau.

"Damn it." he swore, "If I can't use it, how can I make hand signs?" Nikushimi shook her head.

"You can't. It would be best we didn't worry right now though; do you want something to bite on? It's going to hurt a lot when I set your hand." Nikushimi inquired. Tatakau shook his head and grit his teeth as Nikushimi quickly pushed the bone back through the large hole in his left hand.

The gory sight made Nikushimi's skin crawl, and she dared not to look at it again while she bandaged it. When she finished bandaging it, she and Tatakau stood, walking over to where Obito still lie. Tatakau picked up Obito's backpack, which had fallen a few feet away from Obito.

"His back is injured; he's not going to be moving for awhile. I'm going to need your help to move him." Nikushimi reported to Tatakau.

"If he hadn't of protected you from the fall he wouldn't be this injured and we'd have someone strong to help us." Tatakau muttered bitterly.

"I didn't ask him to, I'd have preferred he just let me fall to my death if it means he's in this much pain… and if this injury kills him… I don't know if there are internal injuries or shock or anything. I'll have to look at him closer when we find shelter." Nikushimi replied shortly as she pulled one of Obito's arms around her neck. Using his good right hand, Tatakau did the same with Obito's other arm.

They walked through the trees slowly so that they wouldn't jostle Obito's injuries. For once, neither Tatakau nor Nikushimi argued with each other. They were in a dire situation, they couldn't argue no matter how much they wanted to.

To make matters worse, Obito was unconscious. Even when he had been awake, he had hardly been able to speak. Nikushimi was beyond worried; this was not good at all.

"Looks like there's a cave over there." Nikushimi told Tatakau quietly, nodding in the direction of the cliff side. Tatakau and Nikushimi moved over there, and found that there was indeed a small cave that was almost hidden because of a large boulder in front of it.

"Let's stay here, it's protected." Tatakau decided. Nikushimi, for once, agreed with Tatakau.

"That's a good idea, besides," Nikushimi looked up at the orange sky, "It's getting dark."

They moved into the cave which was just big enough for four people and a fire. They gently sat Obito down against the rock wall and Tatakau sat Obito's pack next to him. Obito gave no response though, he was still unconscious. Nikushimi bit her lip in worry. Her lip was slightly tender; she had been continuously biting it in worry ever since they had fallen off the cliff. She was worried that Obito was going to die.

"Tatakau." Nikushimi said suddenly, "Take your shirt off." Tatakau blinked, then scowled.

"The hell!? Why!?" he snapped. Nikushimi rolled her crimson eyes and her eerie silver pupils landed on him.

"I want to check your wounds, your shirt and jacket is shredded from falling through the trees." Nikushimi replied simply. Tatakau blinked, then complied by pulling his good hand from his jacket. However then he stared at his broken hand.

'How the hell am I going to get my hand out without moving it?' Tatakau wondered. Nikushimi, seeing his dilemma, crawled over to where Tatakau was sitting and she pulled his jacket off gently. After Tatakau telling her he could do it and that he didn't need her help, he pulled his shirt off. However as soon as he jostled his left hand, he bit back cries of pain.

'Holy shit, this hurts a lot!' Tatakau pulled his shirt off quickly and he put his hands in his lap as he sat crisscrossed. Nikushimi kneeled behind him, examining his back. His back was bruised, turning now to a darker color in a few places. Nikushimi prodded at those places. Because Tatakau was proud he didn't cry out, but he did take a deep inhale every time. Nikushimi used those to conclude that his bruises hurt. Next she looked at the scratches that the branches had made. Despite him wearing a heavy jacket, the trees had tore through his jacket and left long, thin cuts. From her scrolls Nikushimi produced a medical kit. Opening it Nikushimi looked at what she had.

'Two jars of medical salve that will probably help the bruises, two jars of medical salve that can probably help flesh wounds, disinfectant, some Band-Aids, a cold compress, some medical tape, gauze, tweezers, pins, and… what is this?' Nikushimi wondered, pulling out the object. She studied it, and decided it looked like something one would make a cast out of…

"Tatakau, do you know what this is?" Nikushimi questioned. Tatakau turned his head and Nikushimi showed him the strange object she had pulled out. He stared at it.

"I don't know, what makes you think I would know?" Tatakau shook his head.

"I think it can help your hand, turn around." ordered Nikushimi. Tatakau did as told and held his hand out. Nikushimi used some of the disinfectant on it, which made Tatakau flinch, and then she used a little of the fresh wound salve. She wrapped it up again with bandages before she took the strange thing and wrapped it around his hand. It fit snugly and was very tough to move, Nikushimi then used the pins from the medical kit to keep it in place.

"I can't move my hand." Tatakau noted. Nikushimi raised an eyebrow.

"You couldn't do that before because you broke your hand and wrist. I think that just helps lock it into place or something, and turn around again." Nikushimi replied as she made him turn around again. Then she applied disinfectant and some of the two salves to his back and used more of her many bandages to wrap a thin layer around his back.

"I would wait for the bruise and wound salves to dry before you put your shirt back on. And if you have another jacket, I would suggest using that one." Nikushimi told him before she crawled over to Obito.

"Obito? If you can hear me, twitch, or open your eyes, or something." Nikushimi whispered, gently putting her hand on his shoulder. Obito's eyes opened slowly and Nikushimi gave him a small smile.

"Hey, Nikushimi….why's Tatakau…shirtless?" Obito questioned quietly, his voice weak. Nikushimi winced at the sound.

'He sounds so weak… I think there's internal damage. I hope his spine wasn't hit too badly either.' Nikushimi thought worriedly, however she didn't let her worry show and instead she bit her lip again.

"Can you support your own weight?" she inquired, ignoring his question. She was too worried over him to care about his question as to why Tatakau was shirtless. Obito blinked slowly, trying to test if he could move.

"I don't think so… it's hard to move. My body feels heavy… sluggish. And it hurts to try." Obito answered slowly. Nikushimi felt her sharp teeth puncture her lip as she bit harder. The irony tang that filled her mouth a moment later confirmed this.

"Alright, Tatakau will have to hold you up then. I want to check your wounds out, so Tatakau and I are going to take your jacket and shirt off, ok?" Nikushimi gestured for Tatakau to come over and he did as told. Tatakau helped move Obito away from the wall and hold him up as Nikushimi tried to get Obito's jacket off.

"No!" Obito took a deep inward, ragged breath.

"Are you ok?" Nikushimi asked, her worry seeping through into her voice.

"It hurts… too much…" he whimpered lowly, his eyes closing.

"If I can't remove your shirt… if you have an extra pair of clothes I can cut yours off… if that makes it any better." Nikushimi offered as she pulled his forehead protector and goggles off and put them next to his bag.

"I have an extra pair…. in the scroll that I have… in my backpack." Obito replied. Nikushimi, taking this as an ok, pulled a kunai from her pouch. She slowly used it to tear through his jacket. Then she worked through the shirt under it. Finally, Nikushimi's eyes widened when she got to his mesh shirt. Under the mesh shirt Nikushimi could already see his injuries. She cut through his shirt quickly, then cut the sleeves to they could remove the shirts and jacket completely. Nikushimi tossed them in a pile and then looked at Obito's back.

"Holy shit…" Tatakau breathed as he looked at Obito's back from his position of holding Obito up.

"I don't know what to do about this." Nikushimi whispered, mortified. Obito's back looked horrible. It was turning multiple colors, ranging from red, to yellow, to blue, to purple, to black. Then it was swollen horribly. It was no wonder Obito couldn't move.

"Obito, I'm going to examine you. It might hurt." Nikushimi informed him before she gently placed her hand on his spine. Obito gasped, but said nothing and only quivered slightly.

'The swelling is bad; I can't even feel his spine. And the colors his back is turning… this cannot be good.' Nikushimi sighed and looked at her bag. She pulled out a scroll and opened it up, showing it was not a sealing scroll but a Jutsu scroll.

"What are you doing?" questioned Tatakau.

"I'm looking to see if I'll be able to pull off this Jutsu, even just a little so I can look more closely at Obito. I need to see how bad the internal injuries are." Nikushimi replied sternly as she looked over the scroll.

'I doubt I can pull this off.' Nikushimi decided a few minutes later when she had finished looking over the scroll, 'But I can try.'

Nikushimi placed her hands on Obito's back and closed her eyes. She blocked out everything and only focused on herself.

'I need to feel for it. I need to feel myself, my chakra, my bones, my blood, my mind. I need to focus.' Nikushimi thought, determined.

Nikushimi was at a disadvantage with the Jutsu. She needed to use her chakra to help her. But her chakra was still locked. So unless a miracle happened, she couldn't do anything.

"Well?" Tatakau asked impatiently after watching Nikushimi just sit there for about ten minutes. He looked out of the cave entrance and found that it was almost dark out. The cave was even darker than it was outside, but they were able to see for now.

"I don't think I can pull the Jutsu off." Nikushimi admitted quietly. Suddenly though, there was a slight glowing from her hands under her bandages. Nikushimi's eyes snapped open, and they were glowing slightly. Tatakau found himself staring in shock as Nikushimi just stared into space, her eerie eyes glowing. The black X's and the black rings that were around where her iris would be began to glow slightly and change into a dark red color, then it started to lighten into more of an amber. But it never made it to an amber hue and instead stopped glowing. Nikushimi's eyes closed, and she fell back. Tatakau only sat there, holding up Obito wondering what the hell had just happened.

Meanwhile, Nikushimi was flying through a memory. Or bits and pieces of a blurry memory.

"_You need to focus Nikushimi, or else you will never get your chakra." _A feminine voice rang through Nikushimi's head.

"_Your mother is right, if you don't focus you'll never be able to do the cool things your mother and I do." _a male voice sounded.

"_It might take awhile Nikushimi, your body is unstable, and it will stay unstable until you unleash the pent up chakra. It will hurt, but you need to do it before the elders find out that you still haven't unlocked your chakra yet." _Nikushimi's mother said, her tone was unreadable.

Suddenly, the voices subsided and the blurry visions that Nikushimi had been seeing subsided. Her eyes opened once more and she blinked a few times before sitting up.

"The hell was that?" Tatakau demanded. Nikushimi didn't answer him; she only looked down at her hands which had stopped glowing. She closed her eyes and focused. Unlike before when she felt nothing, she felt something. But it wasn't much.

"I don't know…" Nikushimi finally answered Tatakau, "But I do know this Jutsu won't work." Nikushimi answered simply. She put the scroll away before she pulled the bruise ointment out. She applied a thick layer to his back, using the entire first jar and some of the second. Then she wrapped it in a heavy layer of bandages around his back. Nikushimi put all the medical supplies away and she pulled out the sleeping bags.

"Let's put Obito down on his stomach so we don't injure his back too much." Nikushimi ordered, as she and Tatakau gently placed Obito on his sleeping bag.

"In case we're attacked, we shouldn't sleep in our sleeping bags. We'd have to get out of them to fight and that's too many seconds to spare." Tatakau suggested. Nikushimi thought about it, then nodded. She pulled out her ration bars and offered him one, which he happily took. When they finished eating, Tatakau went to lie down on his sleeping bag. He rolled onto his side and faced the wall.

'This isn't good.' Nikushimi thought sadly before she moved her sleeping bag next to Obito's. She placed the two cold compresses on his back, hoping it would help.

She then lied back down and stared at the ceiling. The cave was pitch black now, and Nikushimi wasn't going to risk lighting a fire. Whoever had attacked them was out there somewhere, and Nikushimi didn't want to have a run in with them. Her fighting abilities consisted of her senbon mainly, meanwhile Tatakau only had one hand and Obito, who was the strongest of them, could hardly speak and couldn't move at all.

Nikushimi curled into a ball on her sleeping bag and found herself facing Tatakau, whose sleeping bag wasn't very far away. His obsidian eyes stared into her crimson eyes.

Tatakau examined her eyes closely. He had never been able to look at her eyes very closely, she usually moved around too much, or looked down, or just tried to avoid letting anyone get a very good look of her eyes. Tatakau looked deep into her eyes. Her left eye shone, even in the dark. Her personality could be seen. In only a few moments, Tatakau could see all of Nikushimi by just looking into her left eye. Her feelings were out to the world.

Tatakau looked to her right eye next. This eye was dull, it didn't shine like the other and it was unfocused. Tatakau knew her scar ran over this eye, and he figured he knew why that eye was different from the other.

"Are you blind in your right eye?" he questioned. Nikushimi closed her eyes.

"Yeah. But It doesn't handicap me, I'm still able to see from one of my eyes, and my senses are good enough to make it seem as if I can see fine. So I hide it." Nikushimi answered quietly. Tatakau nodded slowly, carefully watching Nikushimi. Her face gave nothing away, but when she opened her eyes again he could see her thoughts. She was like Obito in that way, her face could be blank but her eyes gave away everything. Tatakau couldn't comprehend all of Nikushimi's thoughts and feelings, but he could tell that whatever had made her blind and given her that scar was not a good memory.

"Tatakau, why do you hate me so much?" Nikushimi asked suddenly, but still quietly so that Obito wouldn't wake. Tatakau paused, then thought about it. He wasn't sure why he hated Nikushimi, he didn't hate her. They just didn't get along.

"I don't hate you." he replied, "But you just annoy me, you're too cocky and stubborn." Nikushimi snorted.

"You're worse than I am. You get offended and defensive if you think someone is calling you weak." Nikushimi retorted.

"Do not." Tatakau huffed. However a low noise suddenly caught their attention. After a moment of silence, they realized it was the wind. However the wind brought with it the fresh, cold air. Winter was almost upon them, and this cold wind reminded them of it.

Tatakau felt himself shiver; he sat up and grabbed his jacket with his good hand. He had never pulled a shirt back on; he didn't want to mess up the bandages on his back. But now he was cold and his jacket was the best solution at the moment. He put his good arm through a sleeve and gently pulled his other sleeve over his injured hand. Then he lay back down, and he noticed Nikushimi curled up even tighter and shivering with her eyes shut tight.

'She can't be cold,' Tatakau dismissed, 'She always wears those bandages and announces she's not cold.' However as he watched Nikushimi, the worse he felt for her.

'She wears shorts and a tank top, and it's almost December… she has to be cold now that its dark out and the temperature has dropped considerably.' Tatakau found himself hating his conscience a moment later when he got an idea.

"You cold?" he whispered to Nikushimi, who opened her eyes and looked at him quizzically.

"Kind of." she answered slowly. Tatakau sighed and moved his sleeping bag closer.

"It's probably around freezing outside, the closer we all are, the warmer it will be because of our body heat." Tatakau stated as an explanation. Nikushimi just blinked at Tatakau as he closed his eyes. Then she wondered why she suddenly found herself sleeping between Obito, who was shirtless despite him having bandages covering him, and Tatakau, who was also shirtless, save for his jacket which was open and thrown on carelessly and his bandages.

Nikushimi for once had no idea what to think of the strange situation.

* * *

**AN**

**If I were Nikushimi, I would love to be in that position. But I'm a weirdo.**

**Fun Fact- Nikushimi isn't good with medical things, but her one Jutsu, although very hard to use, works for her. Sometimes. She got lucky the time she helped Yuki.**

**So, it's been very hot out here. I thought I was going to die Thursday when I had my jeans and black Akatsuki cloud shirt on and my Akatsuki cloud sweatshirt. Today for once I wore shorts. It's THAT hot out. I hate the heat.**

**And, I HAVE to go to the school dance. I got a black dress today. And heels. And my friend (One of my very few friends) is determined to find me a date. I'm going to DIE. **

**Sayonara!**


	17. Tatakau's Time

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 17_

_Tatakau's Time_

* * *

When morning came, Nikushimi was the first to wake. However she found that during the night Tatakau and Obito had both managed to throw one of their arms over her. Tatakau of course had thrown his good hand over her rather than his injured one. She sat up between the two boys and she slowly maneuvered herself from between them, breathing a sigh of relief when neither woke. She went over to her backpack and put away her sleeping bag. Tatakau woke up as she was pulling some food out. Tatakau put away his sleeping bag and Nikushimi looked over his back.

"Your back isn't going to be a problem, your hand though… we should get that looked at after we get back to Rin." decided Nikushimi as she held up Tatakau's arm. She left it as it was and made sure Tatakau didn't hurt himself as he pulled his shirt on.

"Don't worry about me." Tatakau huffed when he noticed Nikushimi watching him. She rolled her eyes and turned to Obito.

"Obito, wake up." she whispered, and about a minute later his eyes opened.

"Hey Nikushimi." Nikushimi was relieved that he sounded better. His voice didn't waver as bad, but he still sounded strained.

"I'm going to check on your back." she informed him as she pulled out a kunai and cut his bandages off. Tatakau grimaced behind her when he saw that Obito's back was still many different colors.

"That bad, eh Tatakau?" Obito questioned, looking up at him, noticing Tatakau's expression.

"If you want a visual, your back is black, blue, red, yellow, and purple." Tatakau replied, not joking in the slightest. Nikushimi prodded at where Obito's back was still swollen around his spine and Obito winced. But, Obito moved his arms and with a lot of pain he managed to get himself into a sitting position.

"I'm feeling better today, I can move at least. It still hurts a lot though." Obito reported as Nikushimi sat behind him and applied the last of the jar of bruise salve. Then she wrapped his back up again and Tatakau helped him get another mesh shirt, shirt, and another jacket on. Then Nikushimi pulled his goggles on his head, grinning. She also tied his forehead protector on. Nikushimi also handed him a ration bar which he ate quickly. Then, after they had their bags, Nikushimi helped Obito stand.

"Try walking around to see if you can support your own weight while walking." instructed Nikushimi. Obito nodded and exited the cave, explaining he was going to walk around outside for a few minutes to stretch out his muscles. Nikushimi turned to Tatakau.

"It looks like things will turn out ok." Nikushimi said, smiling. Tatakau nodded, agreeing. However they spoke too soon, for a moment later they heard Obito yell. They rushed out of the cave, and their eyes widened.

"The woman from the cliff!" Nikushimi gasped, seeing the woman with the bright, hot pink hair. However Nikushimi's eyes soon trained on the woman, whose fans were not in her hands. Her fans, which were now confirmed as weapons, were lying on the floor, bloody.

"Oh no… no…" Nikushimi whispered when she realized what happened. The fans were bloody because they had hit Obito. Obito was on the floor, some ways away, not moving. Nikushimi strained her eyes to see if his chest was rising and falling, but she couldn't tell as her eyes were getting blurry from the crimson tears building up. Nikushimi wiped her eyes, but she could now see the pool of scarlet blood around Obito from his chest where the fans had wounded him from their razor sharp edges.

"Nikushimi, don't look. He'll be fine; we have to worry about them right now." Tatakau ordered, looking at their enemies. The woman he decided he was going to leave to Nikushimi, without her fans all Tatakau saw on her that was dangerous were her sharp, claw like nails.

Tatakau's eyes landed on the man next to her. A dark brown cloak covered him, but he was a large man. He easily had a large height on Nikushimi, not so much on Tatakau but enough for him to be somewhat intimidating. Because of the cloak though, Tatakau couldn't see what weapons he had, making him the more dangerous foe at the moment. Tatakau was willing to be that this guy was the one who used the earth Jutsu to make the cliff crumble, and he probably used the Jutsu that prevented them from using their charka to grip the cliff as they fell.

"Nikushimi, take the woman. I'll get this guy!" ordered Tatakau, pulling out a kunai with his good hand.

'Shit, I only have one hand. I forgot.' Tatakau realized, but he still ran at the man. Tatakau realized that he had no choice. It wasn't fight or flight, he had to fight. There was no getting away this time.

Next to him Nikushimi ran towards Obito; however the woman arrived there first and kicked Nikushimi in the chest, knocking her back onto her butt. Nikushimi jumped back up and launched her senbon at the woman who merely swatted them away.

'I'm horrible at close combat… and I don't know what she's capable of! This is very bad!' Nikushimi thought worriedly as she scuttled back. The woman picked up her fans and followed Nikushimi until Nikushimi's back hit the cliff.

"You're such a stupid little brat, aren't you? Trying to take us on, and live!" The woman laughed.

"Tai don't underestimate them. Even if they're kids, they can still be strong." the man called, and the woman, Tai, merely snorted.

"Time to join your little friend over there." Tai stated, pulling her fan back, "You're done brat."

"Obito's dead?" Nikushimi whispered, the severity of Obito's wounds worrying Nikushimi greatly. But Nikushimi shook her head after a moment, "No, I refuse to believe that!" Despite the woman telling her Obito was dead, Nikushimi refused to believe. She refused to give in. She dodged the fan, falling to her knees and with her senbon Nikushimi jabbed them into Tai's knees. Tai fell over with a yell, her knees unable to move. Nikushimi jumped up and ran over to where Obito was.

"It's no use! You can't revive the dead, brat!" Tai yelled, pulling the senbon from her knee and running after Nikushimi. Nikushimi turned around to face Tai and as Tai swung her fan Nikushimi fell back in a bridge position. She kicked up and aimed for Tai's face, but she dodged and Nikushimi did a flip backwards over Obito's body.

A sudden burst of fire caught Tai and Nikushimi's attention, and they looked over to where a large fire ball exploded. Nikushimi blinked.

'But… Tatakau's hand is broken… that means…. oh no.' Nikushimi's eyes widened and her heart almost stopped. When the smoke cleared it revealed the cloaked man standing, Tatakau nowhere to be found. A few trees had been almost incinerated, and there were many scorch marks that littered the area.

"Good job, Kaun!" called the woman with a smile. Nikushimi had sworn she had heard the name before, but there could be millions of people called Kaun. She dismissed it as the two enemies looked at her.

"Kill her like her friends." the man ordered.

'_Kill her like her friends_.' His voice rang through Nikushimi's head and then, she remembered something. Her dream, her goal.

"_My dream… no my goal is protect those who I care for, no matter the cost! Even if it means I have to die… then so be it."_

'No… I need to protect my friends… I must!' Nikushimi looked up, rage in her eyes. She felt a sudden power enter her system as she glared at Tai. The power ran from her heart throughout her body in short bursts every few seconds.

"What the hell? I thought I killed you!" Nikushimi heard the man exclaim and she looked over to see Tatakau, slightly burned but still alive, come out from behind a tree he used for cover.

'Good, that means now I just need to kill this woman so I can help Obito, and then help Tatakau!' Nikushimi decided, and Tai charged at her. Nikushimi wasn't sure what to do, but she followed her instinct. Nikushimi closed her eyes, concentrating on the sudden power in her. Nikushimi directed as much of that energy as she could to her hands and then she prayed that it would work. Then, as Tai was almost on her, her eyes flashed open and she caught the sharp iron edges of both of the fans in her hands. Tai grinned, but when the fans only cut her bandages and not through her hands, Tai didn't know what had happened.

"Go to hell." growled Nikushimi, throwing Tai to the side into the cliff. Blood splattered all around as Tai crashed into the cliff, then her body slid to the ground lifelessly. When Tai didn't move again, Nikushimi decided Tai was dead, especially after Nikushimi took note of the large gash on the back of Tai's head.

"Tai!" the man yelled, taking his attention from Tatakau who had been thrown back, trying to avoid the sword the man held. Tatakau, taking this moment of distraction, ran forward with his kunai aimed for his head. The man moved his head backwards, but not fast enough. Tatakau's kunai clipped the side of his hood, pushing it back off his head. The man threw Tatakau away quickly, and Tatakau landed harshly a few yards away. Tatakau looked at the man angrily, but then his eyes widened as they landed on the man's face.

Across the clearing, Nikushimi had run over to where Obito was. He was alive, thankfully. Nikushimi quickly did a crude job at bandaging his wounds over his clothes.

"…Nikushimi?" Obito groaned. She grinned down at her friend.

"Hey… do you think you can stand?" she whispered. Obito nodded and Nikushimi helped him up.

"You need to get out of here, now." ordered Nikushimi, trusting Obito to go hide or flee, as she stood up and ran over to Tatakau's side as he slowly stood. His eyes were trained on the man. Nikushimi's eyes widened, and she looked between the two.

'Now I know where I've heard the name Kaun from…' Nikushimi trailed, remembering a previous conversation with Shogai.

_^Flashback^_

_"Tatakau used to be a lot nicer to everyone when we were kids, before his father left them." Shogai commented. Nikushimi shrugged._

_"He lost his father? I suppose it hurts to lose a family member." Nikushimi replied vaguely._

_"It does, my father died a few years ago too. But, I had been expecting my father to die. I had been prepared because he was very sick. He could hardly leave the hospital, I was happy when he died because I knew he wouldn't be in pain any longer when he died." Shogai nodded._

_"I see. But death doesn't excuse actions of those who still live." Nikushimi replied tersely._

_"But Tatakau's father didn't die, Kaun left them. He didn't want to be a ninja any longer, so he left the village and left Tatakau and his mom all alone. Tatakau's father had no excuse either. He just, up and left. Suteki likes to believe it's because he got lazy, but I think it's a different reason." Shogai explained. Nikushimi blinked._

_"Do you think he cheated on Suteki?" questioned Nikushimi. Shogai looked up, making sure Tatakau wasn't nearby._

_"Yes, I believe that. Don't speak a word of this conversation to Tatakau by the way, he'll have a fit and not be happy with either of us." Shogai told Nikushimi._

_^Flashback^_

The resemblance between this man and Tatakau was too close for it to not be possible. And, the pieces fit what she knew about Tatakau. Tatakau's father had run off with another woman and was never to be seen again.

The man's obsidian eyes locked with Tatakau's. But all Tatakau could focus on was the fact that his left ear was missing the bottom part. The bottom part where the man's ear once held the piercing that meant he was married. This too, was proof enough.

"Tatakau." The man said, nodding his head slightly. Tatakau said nothing. Nikushimi put a hand on Tatakau's shoulder, who couldn't think of anything to say.

"I've known what I've wanted to say to you for awhile…" Tatakau trailed, but then shook his head, "But now I can't think of it."

"You're a bastard." Surprisingly, it was not Tatakau but Nikushimi who said it. Tatakau looked to the shorter girl in surprise and Kaun just looked at her with an amused look.

"Am I?" Kaun questioned, looking somewhat amused. Nikushimi kept a stony face.

"You've done so much to Tatakau and Suteki, I haven't known them for long, but Shogai told me how much you've hurt them. And I bet that your left ear is missing a chunk for a reason, after all, Tatakau once told me that he and his mom wore the earrings for a reason. You would be no different." Nikushimi snapped.

"When did I tell you about that?" inquired Tatakau, trying to think back. But all he could remember were many pointless arguments with Nikushimi.

"When I called your earrings girly when you called me dirt poor on the day we got the mission with Koneko." answered Nikushimi.

_^Flashback^_

_"Aren't you cold?" questioned Shogai as they stood in the Hokage's office, the Hokage going through mission requests, trying to find a well matched one for the Genin team before him._

_"Even if I am, I don't have winter clothes that I can train in." answered Nikushimi. Tatakau snorted._

_"What are you, dirt poor? If you're freezing to death how can you be a ninja." Tatakau mocked. Nikushimi scowled._

_"At least I don't have girly earrings." she snapped. Tatakau growled._

_"It's the branch my family's on tradition. My mom has her earrings, her cartilage earrings, each meaning a different thing, and then she had her two in her lobe showing she has a son and has… had a husband." Tatakau snarled._

_"Tatakau, Nikushimi, behave." Moyasu muttered as the Hokage peered up at them. Tatakau and Nikushimi settled for glaring at each other from the corners of their eyes._

_^Flashback^_

After a few moments Tatakau remembered. He was slightly shocked Nikushimi had remembered such a trivial detail about one of their arguments.

"You're right; I am missing that chunk of my ear for a reason." Kaun muttered, he looked at his sword, "Suteki cut it off."

Tatakau and Nikushimi were beyond shocked. Nikushimi had only met Suteki once, but she had seemed too nice to be able to do something like that! But after a moment, she realized that Suteki was an Uchiha, so she had probably been a ninja at one point. Tatakau himself was shocked though; he hadn't expected his mother to do something like that to his father, even though they hated him.

"It was the night I left with Tai, your mother called her my whore and then came at me. I was unprepared, so she was able to use a kunai to cut my ear off. Then she called me a fucking bastard and left. I haven't thought of either of you since then." Kaun laughed, and took a fighting stance.

"Nikushimi!" Nikushimi heard Obito yell and she turned, only to find Tai, who she had previously thought dead, running at her, a fan ready. Nikushimi was unable to move in time, and thought she was going to end up like she had her first mission when she had been stabbed by Saiken.

"Gah!" It wasn't Nikushimi, who had been stabbed, but Obito. Nikushimi's eyes widened as Obito stood in front of her protectively, a fan protruding from his back. It had gone through him. Luckily because Nikushimi was short, and Tai had been aiming for her heart, Obito wasn't hit in a vital area. However he was already injured very badly. To make it worse, Tai lifted him and threw him across the clearing where he rolled to a stop against the cliff, bleeding heavily.

"OBITO!" Nikushimi screeched, her voice echoing through the area. Nikushimi, filled with rage, pulled out a kunai and ran at Tai. Nikushimi no longer thought, she was completely focused on killing Tai. Tai was shocked at the girl's sudden power as she was forced back, the girl's kunai being too strong for her to hold back with her fan. Then, Tai's back hit the cliff, and Nikushimi didn't even hesitate.

Nikushimi's kunai plunged into Tai's neck, and Tai's eyes bulged. Blood poured down from the wound, and some splattered onto Nikushimi. Nikushimi tore the kunai back out and Tai crumbled to the floor, gurgling a few words, "K-Korosu…" Nikushimi turned and angrily glared at Kaun. Tatakau was shocked as he watched Nikushimi, angrily glare at his father while covered in blood.

'She… she…' Tatakau couldn't think of words to describe Nikushimi at the moment. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously, glinting in the light. Her face was set in a stony scowl. Blood drenched some of her bandages, and a few droplets were on her face. But Tatakau doubted Nikushimi cared or felt the blood.

"You're next." she growled, not sounding like herself. Kaun ignored her, his eyes trained on Tai. He growled, his obsidian eyes fading into the eerie red of the Sharingan. At the time, it would have been impossible to tell which eyes were scarier. Nikushimi's demonic crimson eyes with their slit silver pupil and eerie black markings or Kaun's glowing Sharingan.

"Tatakau, I'll need your help. I've never fought against a Sharingan before." Nikushimi barked, running forward right as the words left her mouth. Tatakau could only nod and run forward at his father with Nikushimi.

Kaun was not going to be easy to fight though. Within moments he had thrown Tatakau and Nikushimi back, he could read their moves. Then he stormed over to where he had thrown Nikushimi into the cliff. He picked her up by her throat and smashed her into the wall a second time, not letting go. She clawed at his hand that was locked in a death grip around her throat, but it was to no avail. After a moment she was knocked from her rage, and sense flooded through her.

"L-let g-go b-bas-tard." Nikushimi gasped, but he only seemed to grip harder. When her vision began to get fuzzy, she knew it was the end for her. She closed her eyes, getting suddenly tired. And then…

"Hi-fu no Sutaffu!"

Suddenly a burst of fire, followed by wind that doubled the fires size, flew towards Kaun. Kaun dropped Nikushimi and dodged. Nikushimi, who couldn't move, pulled her arms around her face and she pulled at the power she had felt before. When the fire and wind hit her, there was an explosion. A large cloud of dust and smoke flew out around the area, making it impossible to see in that area.

"Nikushimi!" Tatakau gasped as Moyasu appeared next to him, his strange weapon unraveled. Moyasu's weapon had been untied, showing it was a staff that opened up into a fan. The red orb at the top was glowing brightly now, flames seemed to dance inside of it.

"Sensei, you killed Nikushimi!" Tatakau yelled, looking at his sensei worriedly. From the trees Rin ran out and stood next to Moyasu. She looked around until her eyes landed on Obito.

"Obito!" She ran over and knelt next to him, her hands already glowing green with healing chakra.

"I thought you didn't care if Nikushimi lived or died?" Moyasu questioned, smirking down at Tatakau. However Moyasu didn't hint that he actually was slightly scared he had killed his student too. Tatakau's eyes widened.

'I said that… but…' Tatakau shook his head.

"I didn't mean it though!" he yelled. Moyasu laughed, somewhat in relief, and pat Tatakau's head before pointing to where a rather angry Nikushimi was getting up. Her bandages were blackened and her arms burned, but she was ok. Although the only part of her not burned was her face which she had protected with her arms.

"Moyasu-sensei!" Nikushimi screeched. Tatakau wasn't sure if Nikushimi was happy to see their sensei, or pissed off that he had almost caused her to explode. Either way, she was still rushing over to them.

"Where did Kaun go?" Nikushimi asked as she reached them, and Tatakau's eyes widened. He looked around and didn't find his father around anywhere.

"Crap, where did he go?" questioned Tatakau, looking around wildly. Suddenly, a large amount of shuriken was thrown from the forest at them. Moyasu jumped up, pulling Nikushimi with him. Moyasu landed next to Rin, still holding Nikushimi. They both watched as Tatakau blocked the shuriken and his father ran out of the forest.

The man no longer looked calm and collected; he looked angry and deranged, much like how Nikushimi had been earlier. He ran at Nikushimi, his sword drawn. Nikushimi pulled from Moyasu's hold and she ran at him, a kunai out. Using her new power she managed to hold her own as his sword came down on her kunai. She held her own, until he pulled out his own kunai with his other arm. Nikushimi was unable to dodge fast enough as he brought his kunai out and slashed across her throat. Nikushimi gasped, falling backwards. She gripped at her throat, which was gushing blood. Her injury was deep, but had she not moved her head back she would have been much worse.

'He got me deep!' Nikushimi realized as blood dripped between her fingers. Her bandages were drenched in her blood within seconds. Then she looked up, as Kaun raised his sword.

'He's beyond pissed all because I killed that woman.' Nikushimi noted, gripping her throat tighter as more blood spilled out. As the sword came down on Nikushimi, Tatakau ran forward. Using his good hand he used moved forward, catching the sword an inch above Nikushimi. Anger coursed through Tatakau's veins.

'He's trying to hurt my teammate, I won't let that happen. Nikushimi may not be my good friend, but I can't just let her die!' Suddenly, Tatakau's vision was clearer. His father jumped back and Tatakau realized at once that he had unlocked his Sharingan. When his father made the hands for a fireball, Tatakau was almost able to predict it as Tatakau watched the chakra flow in Kaun's body change. He quickly dropped his kunai and picked Nikushimi up. He jumped out of the way as a large fireball hit where they had been standing moments before. He put Nikushimi down and ran forward to fight his father.

Because his father was his problem, not Nikushimi's.

Rin rushed over to Nikushimi and put her hand around Nikushimi's throat. But Rin's eyes widened when she found that, like when she had been hurt by Yuki, Nikushimi's body rejected her medical chakra. Mostly, Rin was able to heal her a little now, but not enough to make a difference.

"Why isn't she being healed?" demanded Moyasu, watching as his student's throat gushed what seemed like gallons of blood. Rin shook her head.

"Her body, its rejecting my medical chakra. Nikushimi, you have to heal yourself. Like you did on our mission with Yuki!" ordered Rin. Nikushimi nodded slowly and closed her eyes. She concentrated, and soon her power was focused away from her hand and she felt the familiar sensation of her healing taking place. Rin watched as the gruesome process of the skin stitching back in place took place.

Moments later Nikushimi's neck was healed, however a vicious scar was left behind. Rin's eyes widened briefly, Nikushimi's ability hadn't left a scar on Yuki. But, Rin knew that she really didn't know much about Nikushimi, so she couldn't think of any reason why Nikushimi rejected her medical chakra.

"Gah!" They all looked over to see Tatakau with a kunai in his father's chest. Tatakau, who was very angry, twisted the kunai and Tatakau's father fell. Tatakau glared down at the body, then spit on it.

"You don't deserve death for what you did to mom, and for trying to kill Nikushimi." Tatakau spat before he walked back over to them. Tatakau held up his broken hand and Rin looked it over curiously before she unwrapped it. Then Moyasu grimaced at the sight of Tatakau's hand. Rin mended it to the point where his fingers weren't grotesquely sticking at different angles. Then she turned to Obito, who was healed quite a bit, only small scars being left behind. But he was unconscious. Rin stepped back.

"Well, you guys were in pretty bad condition, and when we get back to the village Kaede-sensei will have to look at Obito's back because I'm afraid I might make it worse with all the nerves in his spine. Moyasu, could you please carry Obito for me?" Rin announced. Moyasu nodded and picked up Obito. Rin's eyes scoured the clearing quickly before they landed on a pair of battle fans. She picked them up, deciding that they could be Nikushimi's. If not, they could be useful. Rin and Moyasu jumped up onto a tree. Nikushimi stood next to Tatakau, who stared at his father's body.

"Tatakau?" she questioned. Tatakau made a few hand signs, which were painful for him, and shot a fireball at his father's body. The fire quickly burned the body until there was nothing but a pile of black ash left. Then he turned to Nikushimi.

"I can't have anyone finding his body and stealing his Sharingan." Tatakau answered, and Nikushimi stared at Tatakau in surprise. She was looking straight into his new Sharingan.

"You unlocked your Sharingan." she said in surprise. Tatakau nodded.

"Yeah… usually they're unlocked in situations where someone feels a lot of emotion. I unlocked mine when… he…tried to kill you." Tatakau answered. Nikushimi grinned.

"Awww, you care about me?" Nikushimi teased. Tatakau snorted.

"As if… I just didn't want him getting the pleasure of killing you." Tatakau retorted, jumping up to the tree.

"Coming Nikushimi?" Moyasu called down to her. Nikushimi's face turned slightly pink in embarrassment.

"Eh… I can't use my chakra…" Nikushimi reminded everyone. Rin and Moyasu looked at Tatakau, who grumbled and jumped down to Nikushimi. He allowed her to climb on his back before he jumped back.

"I think I should have left you there." grumbled Tatakau. Nikushimi grinned at him.

"But then you would feel guilty." Nikushimi replied.

"No, I would feel pretty good about it." Tatakau retorted.

"Oh Nikushimi, I grabbed these fans." Rin said suddenly, holding up Tai's two fans, "I wasn't sure if they were yours or not."

"They're not mine… they were the enemy's… but I'll take them. I might find use for them later." Nikushimi replied, and Rin nodded, passing Nikushimi the two fans. Nikushimi stashed them in her pouch, almost falling off as Tatakau sped up.

"You wouldn't hit anything with them." Tatakau snorted.

"I'd hit more than you!" huffed Nikushimi.

"Yeah right, and pigs fly." Tatakau retorted.

"Well, you were airborne when we fell off the cliff." Nikushimi pointed out with a grin. Tatakau could only stutter angrily in response.

As Moyasu followed behind, he looked down at Obito. He shook his head and chuckled to himself.

'Obito… your best friend sure is one of a kind. Good luck.'

* * *

**AN**

**And so, the Tatakau's Mission Arc has come to an end. Next chapter doesn't start an arc, but in the chapter Nikushimi makes a new friend.**

**Fun Fact- After this mission, Tatakau's left hand will be a little faulty since the healing wasn't done right after the gruesome break. **

**So… I've taken my time for this haven't I? But, I graduate on Friday (I'm going into High School) and then I get summer! The only bad part is AP classes gave me summer homework, I have to read an entire book and I have to do the entire first chapter plus a packet for History.**

**I'm going to try and update ASAP to make up for this lateness.**

**On another note, for those of you who were fans of Dancing with the Devil, I have the first chapter of its sequel in the works and I have put a preview picture on my deviant art (ShadowBloodNinja… only on Deviantart). I'll even give you a summary for it. **

**Summary- Her mother was dead, she had fate against her, and she had to find her father, who she never met. Follow her as she fights against her fate, tries to find her father that no one knows, and tries to understand the clues her mother left her. **

**That's the best summary I have so far. The story is in the making…. so I have no fucking clue when it's going to be up. **


	18. The Hospital

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 18_

_The Hospital_

* * *

Nikushimi sat next to the hospital bed with her knees pulled into her chest. Next to her, Obito was eating from the basket of fruit Nikushimi had given him. Obito had reacted like she had after her first mission in the hospital, he was beyond grateful for the food.

Nikushimi smiled as she watched Obito eat the fruit, he looked kind of funny as he ate the apple quickly. He somewhat resembled a chipmunk. Nikushimi looked around Obito's room again and her eyes landed on the flowers she had brought in with Rin. From the vase spilled pink roses, peonies, and yarrow. Nikushimi had remembered their meanings from when she had been in the hospital.

"Please heal his back Kaede-sensei, he's been here since we got back!" Nikushimi looked up as Rin burst in with a grouchy old woman behind her. The woman held an air of importance, so Nikushimi didn't say anything about how the woman was hunched over and grumbling to herself about bothersome Genin.

"I told you Rin, the swelling must go down first before I can take a good look at his spine. How did you even manage to do this?" Kaede questioned Obito as she made Obito sit up.

"I fell off the cliff on our last mission." Obito answered sheepishly.

"No, we were thrown off the cliff when it crumbled and you protected me." Nikushimi added with a nod. Kaede, now just noticing Nikushimi, studied her. Her eyes traveled her, until they landed on Nikushimi's cloudy eye.

"You blind in that eye, girl?" Kaede inquired, pointing a finger at Nikushimi's scarred eye. Nikushimi nodded quietly. Obito and Rin gave Nikushimi incredulous looks.

'Nikushimi can't be blind it one eye, she doesn't look like she's blind at all!' Obito thought, giving Nikushimi a questioning look. Rin was giving Nikushimi the same look, so she sighed.

"When I was younger I was wounded, and I got this scar. When I was wounded this eye was cut up too bad for medical Ninjutsu to have any effect, not that it affects me a lot anyway." Nikushimi explained, kicking her feet as she leaned forward on the chair. The chair was a bit too tall for her legs to reach the ground.

"How were you wounded?" Rin asked curiously. Nikushimi stayed silent for a moment.

"I'm going to get going now, see you Obito." Nikushimi announced quietly, sliding off the chair and quickly scurrying out to avoid the question.

'What's so bad about it that has her running out?' wondered Rin. Obito meanwhile looked out the door after his friend who turned a corner and disappeared.

'I wonder why Nikushimi wanted to dodge the question so bad.' Obito thought, but soon Kaede was looking him over. And his thoughts became focused on the pain that her checkup caused.

Meanwhile Nikushimi headed to the library. She decided that looking at some of the books on chakra would help her focus her mind on it, rather than the memory of how she got her scar.

She entered the library and walked over to the ninja area, however a familiar girl stood there peering at the various books. As if feeling Nikushimi's eyes on her, Uragiri turned, her bright mint green eyes widening upon seeing Nikushimi.

"I remember you from the other day!" she said cheerfully, her bright mint green eyes widening. Nikushimi grinned upon seeing Uragiri, remembering the blue haired girl from a few days prior. Nikushimi remembered having the thought that Uragiri could be a new friend for her.

"I remember you, you're Uragiri right?" Nikushimi questioned. Uragiri nodded cheerfully.

"Yes, and your name was Nikushimi, I remembered it." Uragiri laughed, remembering Nikushimi introducing herself with "I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi and don't you forget it!".

"So why are you here in the chakra section?" questioned Uragiri, tilting her head to the side, "Aren't you a ninja already?" Nikushimi looked down at her feet.

"I can't use chakra, but I'm working on trying to be able to use it." Nikushimi admitted, looking up with a determined glint in her eyes. Uragiri's eyes widened slightly.

'A ninja who can't use chakra? That's new, and she looks so determined.' Uragiri thought, looking Nikushimi over.

"I want to be a ninja, but I'm too new to the village to become a ninja because apparently my loyalty can waver easily." sighed Uragiri, "Plus I was a civilian for so long, I'm not the best at using my chakra. So I'm researching chakra and various Jutsus." Nikushimi nodded.

"That's a good idea, research can help. I've been looking at as many books on chakra as I can, but none of them have much on my case." explained Nikushimi as she turned to look up at one of the shelves.

"Well, I hope that you are able to find something to help you." Uragiri smiled at Nikushimi, who stopped looking at the shelves to smile back at Uragiri.

"I'm sure you'll do fine too, all you have to do is train hard. Eventually you can get it." Nikushimi replied, before she turned back to the books.

"Well, best of luck to the both of us then." chirped Uragiri, before silence fell between them and they both focused on the shelves of books.

The two of them spent a few hours in the library, each time when one found something interesting they would share with the other. It was around sunset when Nikushimi was ready to leave.

"I'm done." Nikushimi announced quietly, leaning back in her chair and stretching her arms and back out, successfully cracking the joints. Uragiri looked up from her book to look at Nikushimi. Then she looked outside the large window by their table to see the sun was indeed setting.

"So am I, I suppose. Want to go grab something to eat?" questioned Uragiri. Nikushimi nodded with a grin.

"Sure, I know a great place!" Nikushimi replied, before she put her books back on the shelves and led Uragiri to her and Obito's usual café. They slid into a booth across from each other and Nikushimi ordered her usual, while Uragiri took a moment to think about what she wanted from the menu.

"So I suppose you come here often?" Uragiri inquired, sipping her tea. Nikushimi nodded as she took a bite of her food.

"Yeah, I usually eat here a lot. It's not the best dinner since it's mainly sweets, but it's better than what is at my apartment." Nikushimi answered, slowly swallowing her food.

"Oh, your parents aren't good cooks?" Uragiri questioned.

"They're not around." Nikushimi replied, taking a large bite of her food.

"Oh, a lot of missions most likely. It seems like the village is really busy, I wonder why…" Uragiri trailed. Nikushimi swallowed, almost choking form the large amount of food in her mouth.

"It's because of all the skirmishes with all the other villages." Nikushimi informed Uragiri, who looked at Nikushimi with interest, "There have been many skirmishes going on and a lot of missions are being brought in asking for protection, that's what my sensei told me this morning when I saw him before I went to the hospital anyway."

"Why did you go to the hospital?" asked Uragiri, taking another sip of her tea.

"My best friend, Obito, is in the hospital from our last mission." Nikushimi chirped, "But he'll hopefully be out soon. His back just needs to be healed."

"Oh, well I hope he gets out soon." Uragiri nodded, taking a sip of her tea once more.

"I hope he does too, we have training to continue." Nikushimi said, somewhat joking and somewhat serious.

"What kind of training do you two do?" inquired Uragiri.

"Ah, I'm teaching Obito to use senbon, and every once in awhile he'll try to teach me something, or we'll have a little spar that usually results in my ass being handed to me." Nikushimi replied, making Uragiri laugh. Then she looked out at the dark street and stood, dropping some money on the table.

"I have to head home; I'll see you later though. It's nice hanging out with you. Bye." Uragiri waved as she headed for the door. Nikushimi watched her go with a large grin on her face.

'I think Uragiri and I can become good friends.' Nikushimi decided, reaching for her drink and taking a sip of it. She put it down on the table and took another bite of her food, almost finished with it.

"Hm?" Nikushimi blinked curiously as she looked at her drink, there were small ripples coming from it. Then, suddenly the ground seemed to shake slightly. It wasn't very great, but enough for Nikushimi to notice. At the counter, Akane looked up, noticing it too. When the ground stopped shaking, she looked at Nikushimi.

"Was that an earthquake?" she inquired. Nikushimi stood, placing her money on the table.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to see if there's something going on. It's not often the ground shakes like that naturally." Nikushimi replied, standing and heading for the door.

"Be careful, if there's something going on go get a Jounin or the Hokage!" called Akane as Nikushimi left. She looked left and right, seeing nothing out of the usual she headed down the dark streets. As she entered an alley, a slight glowing over one of the buildings caught her attention. Nikushimi, using a fence at the end of the alley, climbed up and stood on the roof, her eyes wide.

"Oh shit." Nikushimi breathed, watching as a wing of the hospital burned. Suddenly, an explosion racked the air as the smaller wing next to it exploded. Screams filled the air and ninja ran past. A few were using water Jutsu to douse the flames, but Nikushimi then realized something.

'Obito is in there!' Nikushimi thought, her eyes widening even more. She quickly slid down to the street and sprinted to the hospital. No one stopped her, a few seeing her ninja headband and deciding she was there to help and others too busy trying to help to stop her. Nikushimi ran into the main doors of the hospital, running past a few frantic nurses trying to get some patients out. The ground shook again, almost knocking Nikushimi over. However she continued down the hall and up a flight of stairs to where she knew Obito's room was.

Unfortunately, one of the two, possibly now three wings that had been affected, Obito's room had been in one of the wings. Or the fire could have spread, either way Nikushimi found herself running through a burning hallway. Screaming and yelling could be heard all around her, and she knew that not a lot of patients had made it out. Most were still here, in the burning wing.

'I've got to get to Obito!' Nikushimi ran down the hallway, ignoring all the flames that danced about, almost seeming as if they were trying to grasp her. Nikushimi's worry increased, as did her heart beat as she made a turn down a hallway to find it completely filled with fire.

'I need to find another path!' Nikushimi quickly made up her mind and ran into one of the rooms. She opened the window and quickly climbed out, happy that the ledges were big enough for someone short and small to fit on. This was a time Nikushimi was glad for her size.

She jumped across the ledges, looking down with worry. She was only on the second floor, however broken glass and fiery debris littered the ground below her. Should she fall, it was possible that she could end up dead.

Nikushimi reached the window for the stairwell to get to the third floor and slid in. She hurried up the stairs, finding that the third floor was worse than the one below.

'Shit, this isn't good.' Nikushimi looked around once more, trying to find something to help. The nurses' station was empty, and much to Nikushimi's horror a few burned bodies littered the area. It could have been an explosion that killed them, or maybe a flying piece of debris, but either way, it was horrible.

Nikushimi, another sudden idea filling her head, ran over to the nurses' station. She grabbed a pail and used the sink, which barely worked, to fill it up. She poured it over her a few times and then she sprinted towards the flames. She dove through the air, and landed in a tuck and roll. She quickly bounced up and continued running, jumping to avoid fire and debris. The water had helped, the fire hadn't caught on to her as she sprinted down the fiery hallway. But the intense inferno soon dried the water that doused her. The heat was almost unbearable.

Another explosion shook the floor and debris began to come down from the ceiling, Nikushimi quickly dove once again and slid along the floor underneath a hospital gurney. She stayed there until the floor stopped shaking. The heat was still rising, but Nikushimi crawled out from under the gurney.

'This heat…. I don't know how much of it I can take…' Nikushimi thought, looking around at the room numbers. She was satisfied to find herself very close to Obito's room. She continued, but every once in awhile a step would falter or her vision would get black dots from over exertion.

"Obito!" she finally called out as she reached his door. It was shut. Nikushimi grabbed the doorknob, the intense heat had made the metal doorknob almost melt. Pain seared through Nikushimi's hand as she pulled her hand back from the doorknob. She looked at her hand and winced, her bandages had been burned through, and the rest of her bandages were either burned off or a crispy black. but the burn on her hand was the worst, it was obviously a third degree burn easily.

Nikushimi clenched her teeth and kicked the door twice until it swung open. She entered the room, and she was mortified to find that Obito was still in the room. He was sitting up, a hand covering his mouth to avoid inhaling the smoke. Nikushimi hadn't worried much about the smoke; she was too short for it to be as much of a problem as the fire had been.

"Obito!" Nikushimi yelled, slamming the door shut behind her. Obito's room was relatively unharmed, it was a mess and had smoke in it, but other than that it was better than the flaming hallway.

"Nikushimi?" Obito's eyes widened as she crawled over to his bed.

"We've got to get out of here; I doubt this room will be safe for much longer." Nikushimi explained, quickly.

"There's a fire alarm system that starts the sprinklers, if you can hit that then we can get out of here. And help can arrive for the other patients faster." Obito informed Nikushimi. Nikushimi nodded.

"Where's the switch for it?" she questioned.

"Down the hall from my room, is the fire spreading fast?" Obito asked urgently. Nikushimi grinned and walked over to the window. Peering out, she saw ninja already working on using water Jutsus on the wing a bit farther down.

"I'll scale along the windows; it looks like help isn't far away. I'll be back in a second, sit tight and don't move unless the fire gets in here." ordered Nikushimi as she exited the window onto the ledge.

"The switch is that way, it's probably around six rooms down." Obito yelled to her while pointing in the direction she had to go, and Nikushimi nodded as she headed that way. The rooms that had their doors opened were difficult for Nikushimi, fire covered the room and some flared out the window.

'How am I going to get past this?' wondered Nikushimi as she came face to face with a wall of fire. Taking a deep breath, she swung down, holding onto the ledge with her hands. She inched along slowly. Her fingers screamed with pain as she inched along. The fire burned them and the effort it took to hold her weight was too much. Yet Nikushimi refused to let go.

Nikushimi pulled herself up onto the ledge again and opened the window. She fell in and quickly jumped up. She exited the room, kicking the door open again. She ran through the hallway to where the sprinkler system switch was. She quickly pulled it down, and soon the sprinklers around the entire ward began to spray water.

The fire's didn't go away, but they certainly lessened. Nikushimi, using the burnt wall for support, slowly made her way down the hall. But a sudden creaking noise made her pause. And then, she only had time to look up before the ceiling above her gave in and came crumbling down. She dove, trying to get out of the way, but her legs were caught under the cave in, effectively trapping her.

Nikushimi tried to get the rubble off her, but most of it was too heavy for her to move. She was weakened from the burns and the smoke she inhaled. The entire way through the hospital had taken much effort, and now Nikushimi was paying the price.

"I can't move…" Nikushimi moaned, "I'm stuck." Her vision slowly began to get black dots covering it. She could hear yelling from down the hallway and she could see more water being used to put out the hallway.

'I wonder if I helped by turning the sprinklers on?' wondered Nikushimi before her eyes closed and her vision faded into the black of unconsciousness.

* * *

**AN**

**Who expected that?**

**I bet no one did.**

**In my original plotline there had been a hole where the burning hospital had been, so I filled the hole in with the hospital. The event is needed though.**

**Fun Fact- Nikushimi doesn't always think things through when it involves her friends.**

**Sayonara**


	19. Burned Out

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 19_

_Burned Out_

* * *

"Her burns are bad." Nikushimi heard an elderly voice say. Slowly she opened her eyes, but then closed them from a bright light intruding on her, "And the smoke she inhaled was a large amount. Her legs were crushed by the ceiling, but they're healing nicely. I'm most concerned about her right hand, the burn on it is bad."

"When do you think she'll wake up, she's been out for a few days." Nikushimi was able to identify that voice as Rin.

"It can be any day now, she may even be conscious now. But she won't regain strength for a few days." replied the old woman, Nikushimi decided that this was most likely Kaede, Rin's sensei.

"How long do you think she'll be in the hospital?" questioned a new voice, Nikushimi immediately recognized Obito's voice.

"It matters how fast she heals; now I have more patients to attend to. If she wakes up, then it's not necessary to find me." Nikushimi heard the Kaede hobble out and close the door behind her. There were a few moments of silence before Rin spoke.

"I can't believe that Nikushimi ran into the burning hospital to help." Rin said quietly.

"Nikushimi is like that, she's strong and willing to do anything to help." Obito replied, most likely grinning.

"I'm worried, they haven't identified the explosions causes yet, but they think it was an attack on the village. There have been so many skirmishes around lately, the mission rates are getting higher and it's getting bad." Rin sighed, sounding actually sad, "I don't like where this is leading. Do you think there's going to be more attacks?"

"I don't know, but the explosions were bad. A lot of people died, civilians and ninja. If Nikushimi hadn't of gotten to the sprinkler system, the fire would have spread even more and more would have died." Obito murmured, and Nikushimi felt something grab her hand.

'I wish I could say something, or move…. but everything feels so heavy.' Nikushimi thought, trying to move her eyes or hand. She couldn't even make a sound.

"I kind of wish Nikushimi hadn't of run into the building, more deaths would have occurred, I might have even died, but I hate seeing her like this." Obito whispered, squeezing Nikushimi's hand, "She's my best friend. And, it almost hurts physically to see her like this. She's burned so badly. Her arms look like barbeque, and her right hand. I can't believe she had been able to get to the sprinkler system with her hand like that. She had to move along the window ledges."

"From what I've seen, Nikushimi is determined. She's able to go beyond her limits at times, but the end result isn't good on her part. Nikushimi must have been in excruciating pain too, from what you've said. Her hand, some of the skin actually looks like it bubbled from the heat. I suppose the adrenaline helped numb the pain." Rin surmised.

"How bad is her right hand, Kaede-sama looked somewhat concerned about it." Obito inquired, sounding worried. Rin let out a deep sigh.

"Her hand was injured not only on the outside, on the skin, but the inside. Her chakra system could have been hit, and she already has a problem with her chakra. If it's not healed perfectly, then her chakra system there could be permanently severed. And the outside, the burnt skin might not heal well. She may not be able to use her hand either, from outer damage and possible inner damage. We couldn't look too much at it because of the damage." Rin explained seriously. There was a tense silence for a moment.

"What are the chances of her hand being perfectly healed with no problems?" Obito finally asked after a few minutes of tense silence.

"To be honest, the chances are slim. I'd say maybe a ten percent chance. But the chances are actually less, we can't heal her. Our healing chakra hardly works, we could probably numb injuries, we can look at them, but for whatever reason, we can't heal large wounds or anything inside her body. It's almost as if her body is on a lock down." Rin explained morosely.

"What if she can heal herself? She was able to heal Yuki from a deadly wound, wouldn't she be able to heal her own hand?" Obito questioned. Rin sighed.

"If she can, she has to be able to heal the chakra nerves in her hand too. They were probably severed." Rin replied. Then silence overtook them for a few minutes. The silence was interrupted when the door opened.

"Yo, is Nikushimi up yet?" Nikushimi recognized her sensei's voice as he entered the room. Two sets of steps behind him sounded, so most likely Tatakau and Shogai were there too.

"No, we were just discussing her healing though." Rin answered. Everyone settled in the room before they spoke again.

"How is she healing?" Moyasu inquired.

"There's a ten percent chance that her hand will be usable." Obito responded quietly, and Nikushimi felt his eyes on her.

"The chakra nerves could be severed, and the way her body responds to our medical chakra, they might not be able to be healed unless she can heal them herself." Rin clarified.

"Will that affect how she is as a ninja?" questioned Tatakau, breaking his silence. But already from the tense air, he already knew that the answer wasn't good.

"Her hand also might be unusable if it isn't healed right, she may not be able to use her senbon in that hand, or make hand signs if she unlocks her chakra." Rin explained. Shogai sighed from next to Tatakau before he coughed slightly.

"From what I heard," Shogai muttered, "She was able to heal an injury you weren't, I believe she'll be back to normal completely as soon as she can get up."

"Nikushimi has done some impressive stunts." Rin murmured, thinking back to Nikushimi healing Yuki. And when Nikushimi had healed her neck back in the last mission, her neck had been sliced good.

'Thinking back to that, her wound was quite fatal. Her healing Jutsu is very impressive, healing Yuki's fatal wound, and later her own.' Rin noted, looking over to the girl lying on the bed. Nikushimi's hair had been taken from its ponytail and was spread out around her in long, soft strands. Nikushimi's eyes were closed and her face looked calm and peaceful. Her chest hardly rose or fell, and her injured hand was wrapped and set to the side. On her other side, Obito sat, holding her good hand tightly.

'It's like she's dying, she looks peaceful. And Obito looks as if he's trying to keep her here rather than her moving on to death.' Rin thought, her eyes softening as she watched Obito. He wasn't in his normal ninja attire, his goggles had been left at home, and his headband was loosely tied on. He had a jacket on over a tee shirt, one he wore on his days he didn't have training or a mission. He still had ninja pants though, seeing as how they were quite warm and it was slowly inching its way into the frigid December temperatures.

'It's only December 4th, and it's already freezing.' Rin noticed, looking out at the hospital courtyard. All the patients that survived, and new ones, were all in rooms in other wards. Meanwhile the other wings of the hospital were quickly being cleared, investigated, and soon the buildings would be rebuilt. It wouldn't take too long; many were willing to help rebuild the hospital wings.

"Wasn't her throat gorged out last mission?" Tatakau questioned suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Hm? Nikushimi's?" Rin replied, looking at Tatakau. Tatakau nodded.

"Her throat had been gorged out?" Obito inquired, looking up from staring at the floor.

"I wouldn't say gorged, but the wound had been fatal. Nikushimi could have died had her wound not been healed fast." Rin said, looking at Nikushimi. Nikushimi's bandages had been redone; fresh clean bandages covered the burns along her body. Rin reached forward and slowly tugged the bandages around Nikushimi's neck down.

'Why are my bandages being removed?!' Nikushimi was panicking on the inside. She urged her body to move, but it refused. She continued to try, she had to move.

"Her healing left a scar though. Which is why I'm confused, when she healed Yuki, there was no scar." Rin explained, gesturing to the vicious scar that crawled along Nikushimi's neck. Obito's eyes didn't leave the scar, nor did the others.

"Rin, is her scar over another scar?" Obito questioned, the only one willing to break the silence. Rin pulled the bandage away more, to find that another scar ran around her neck, and the scar on her face continued down her neck. The freshest scar though ran over those two.

"Pull down her bandages more." Shogai said, and Rin started to pull away Nikushimi's bandages.

Nikushimi was panicking. She was begging her body to move, she was begging her strength to return.

'My body won't move! I need to move though!' Nikushimi thought wildly, she tried her hardest to move. But she couldn't find strength in any of her limbs. It was like they were filled with lead.

'I can't move, there has to be something I can do to move! I need to concentrate!' Nikushimi stopped trying to move and tried to focus. She tried to find some kind of power that she could use to move. Then, she felt it. A sudden power that was throughout her body.

'This is what I felt back on that mission when I had killed that woman… could I possibly use it to move?' Nikushimi concentrated; she moved the energy throughout her body. Then, she used it to jerk her body.

Rin jumped back in surprise when Nikushimi jumped up. Her arms flew up to rest around her throat and her eyes opened slowly. Nikushimi sat up, breathing deeply. The room remained silent for a few seconds; the only sound was of Nikushimi breathing deeply.

"Nikushimi, you're awake!" Obito yelled after she caught her breath and looked around the room, her crimson eyes wide. Obito grinned at her and she looked over at him. But she didn't smile back.

"Rin," Nikushimi looked at the brunette, "Please, don't remove my bandages. The burns could be rather bad." Rin looked at Nikushimi, slightly stunned. But she wordlessly nodded. Nikushimi grinned and looked back at Obito.

"Well, I guess we're both alive. So that means I didn't screw things up." laughed Nikushimi. Obito let out a small chuckle.

"I suppose so, but you didn't have to run into the hospital Nikushimi. The doors were pretty thick." Obito replied. Nikushimi snorted, shaking her head.

"No, even if the doors had been fireproof I still would have run in. I told you Obito, my dream is to protect my friends. Even if it means that I have to run into an exploding building." Nikushimi explained. Then she looked away from Obito and at the others in the room. Her eyes landed on her sensei.

'Moyasu-sensei is a Jounin, which means he was probably told the cause of the hospital fire, if it was important.' Nikushimi thought.

"Ne, sensei, do you know the cause of the hospital explosions?" Nikushimi questioned. Moyasu shook his head.

"No, your guess is as good as mine. There could have been a boiler room accident when they tried to get the heating to work." Moyasu suggested. Nikushimi scanned his face. He was relaxed and had his usual carefree look.

'He's not lying, at least from what I can see.' determined Nikushimi. She nodded.

"And if it wasn't a boiler room accident? What if it was an attack?" questioned Tatakau. Moyasu sighed.

"If it was an attack, then I can already tell that there will be problems in the future." Moyasu replied.

"What kind of problems?" inquired Shogai.

"If these skirmishes keep happening, and the attacks keep getting larger, then war will break out very soon." Moyasu answered gravely before he stood.

"I don't want to worry you all; it probably won't come to that. It probably was just a boiler room accident. I have to go meet up with a few other Jounin now. I hope you get released soon Nikushimi." and with that Moyasu left.

"Do you think it will come to that? War I mean." Rin questioned.

"It could." Shogai answered, coughing into his arm, "But it probably won't escalate to that. War doesn't help anything."

"I don't like war." Nikushimi commented.

"No one does." Obito replied, nodding at Nikushimi.

"True." sighed Nikushimi.

"The last war we had was the Second Great War." Rin said, thinking back to research she had done in the academy.

"No, that was the last great war. The civil war in the Land of Light ended eight years ago, the Second Great War was a little before we were born." Nikushimi corrected.

"Can we get off this topic?" Rin questioned, "We haven't had any pleasant topics at all today."

"Sure, what do you want to talk about Rin?" Obito inquired. Rin blinked, and then shrugged.

"Did you get your back healed, Obito? You're not a patient anymore." Nikushimi pointed out. Obito grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, Kaede wanted to make room for more critical patients so she healed my back so I could leave. But, she didn't do it all the way, I can't train for a few days." Obito answered. Nikushimi nodded.

"Oh, Nikushimi, a girl was here to visit you before." Rin said suddenly, remembering. Nikushimi blinked.

"Who?" she inquired.

"She said her name was Uragiri I think, and she had blue hair." Rin described. Nikushimi grinned.

"Oh, Uragiri. She's my new friend; I was actually with her before the explosions went off." Nikushimi replied.

"Oh, well she told me to tell you to get better and that she'll be at the library for awhile, so stop by when you get better." Rin informed Nikushimi.

"Alright, well I'm going to get better really fast so that I can meet up with Uragiri!" announced Nikushimi, looking determined.

"Your hand has to heal first, and it doesn't look good." Rin spoiled Nikushimi's good mood. Nikushimi unwrapped her hand curiously, to see what it looked like.

"It doesn't hurt though." Nikushimi responded as she unwrapped her hand.

"You have a lot of painkillers." Rin said as an explanation. Nikushimi didn't answer as she finished pulling off the bandages and examined her hand.

'Oh shit…' Nikushimi thought, holding her hand up for everyone to look at.

"Damn, that looks like shit." Tatakau observed. Shogai shot him a look.

"It looks bad, but I'm sure you'll be back to normal." Shogai offered, but after seeing her hand, Shogai doubted that.

Her hand was burned horribly. No skin had been untouched and her palm looked like it had actually started bubbling from the heat. It wasn't a pretty sight at all.

"It'll be fine." Nikushimi decided as she put her other hand over it. She closed her eyes in focus.

"Nikushimi, are you sure you can heal it?" Obito asked, sounding worried.

"I was able to heal Yuki, wasn't I?" retorted Nikushimi.

"Yeah, but…" Obito trailed. The air was tense as Nikushimi concentrated.

'Feel for the power, it's there. You can feel it; you just need to grab at it!' Nikushimi commanded herself. It was difficult for Nikushimi. Grabbing at the power was hard, it was slippery. Sometimes she would grab at it too fast and it would disappear, or she would take too long and the power she grabbed would build up to be too much.

'The chakra nerves there are damaged,' deducted Nikushimi as the red aura appeared around her hand and entered her hand. It veiled her hand in a cloak and from small cuts on Nikushimi's hand small droplets of blood dripped onto her injured hand.

'I don't know if I can heal this with my skills as they are right now…' Nikushimi thought, biting her lip. The aura disappeared and she sighed.

"I'll only make it worse; I'm not practiced in burns. I've only healed wounds that are bleeding a lot. And the chakra nerves are too damaged for me to heal with the hand as messed up as it is… when I get released I'm going to have to go through some more research." Nikushimi announced.

"What if you can't fix your hand?" inquired Tatakau, the only one willing to ask. Nikushimi looked at him, her eyes burning with determination.

"If I can't heal it, I'll only have one hand that I'll be able to use once I get my chakra. Possibly only one hand at all. But, failure isn't an option for me." Nikushimi replied. She made a fist with her other hand that wasn't resembling beef jerkey.

"I refuse to let this be an obstacle!" Nikushimi pledged, and determination shone in her eyes.

Nikushimi wasn't going to let herself fail at this.

* * *

**AN**

**So, I leave tomorrow at like 4 in the morning for a weeklong trip that has NO internet at all. So I'll be fanfiction deprived and sad. But, I'll have a load of fun stories and ideas when I get back. Woo! And some drawings to add to my deviantart.**

**Fun Fact- Uragiri's name is an actual Japanese word (I forget what word I used… or did I? Maybe it means something crucial to this arc!)**

**I forgot to mention I have turned this into an arc. I haven't come up with a good name for it though… I'll think one up eventually.**

**And I couldn't think of a good name for the chapter.**

**Sayonara! (Let's pray I don't drown on my trip, my dad might make me do the race across the lake! I would lose and drown…)**


	20. The Spy

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 20_

_The Spy_

* * *

"You've studied hard for the last two days." commented Uragiri as she watched Nikushimi place a book on the pile that was just about as tall as she was. On her other side Nikushimi had another pile of books she had not yet started reading.

"I need to figure this Jutsu out, or else I won't be able to fix this!" Nikushimi muttered crossly, showing the blue haired girl before her the burnt and mutilated hand. Uragiri looked at it curiously.

"How did you get that? You never told me." Uragiri inquired.

"I ran into the hospital when it starting exploding the other day. A doorknob basically melted my hand because it was metal and stuff." Nikushimi replied, flipping quickly through a book with her good hand. Uragiri gave Nikushimi a look and went to respond but didn't get the chance to.

"Nikushimi!" Nikushimi looked up and found her two teammates running to her table. They both stopped and Tatakau bent his head down so he was eye level with her.

"Sensei needs us right away; he said it's really important." Tatakau explained. Shogai nodded behind him.

"Yeah, and this research is more important!" Nikushimi retorted, gesturing to the books surrounding her.

"Research can wait, c'mon!" Tatakau urged, grabbing Nikushimi's tank top and dragging her towards the door. Nikushimi struggled and protested as Tatakau tried his hardest to pull her. Shogai was merely watching the amusing sight go down before him.

"Nooo, I need to fix my hand!" cried Nikushimi as she was pulled to the door which Shogai had opened for them. Uragiri only watched the strange spectacle before her. When they were gone she laughed to herself and shook her head. The sight had been pretty amusing to watch.

Nikushimi was dragged through the streets by her good hand by Tatakau. Shogai jogged behind them with a slight grin on his face. They made it to their training grounds where their sensei already sat, waiting for them. In his hands he held a stop watch.

"You two were faster than I thought," Moyasu commented, looking at the watch, "It took you two minutes less than I estimated."

"Now what was it you had to tell us?" Shogai questioned calmly as they each took a seat on their usual log. Nikushimi looked very irritated.

"Well, it's not as important as you all think. But in two weeks they'll be holding the Chunin Exams-" Moyasu was cut off.

"Chunin Exams? Now?" Shogai inquired in disbelief. Moyasu nodded, looking like he agreed with Shogai.

"Yes, I know. With all the various struggles all over the nations it is rather bad timing. I'm wary about the decision, I don't know if sending you guys to the Chunin Exams is the best idea." admitted Moyasu.

"Then why are you telling us?" questioned Nikushimi. Moyasu sighed.

"I want to test how you guys could do in the Chunin Exams, I doubt you would make it to Chunin so soon, but it would be good for me to see how far you guys can make it and see what your weak areas are. However, you need to have a team to enter the Chunin Exams, and with Nikushimi's hand like that… and I'm also worried about the various skirmishes with other villages and missing nins." Moyasu explained.

"The skirmishes could lead to something bigger, which is why you're worried. You don't want us in the center of the fighting, which could happen at the Chunin Exams." surmised Shogai, coughing into his arm.

"Exactly, but with the way things are going currently…" Moyasu sighed and ran a hand through his fiery hair. This was his usual habit when he was unsure or frustrated.

"I'm just going to say it, the hospital was attacked. We found paper bombs under the tiles when we investigated. There's reason to believe there's a spy in the village, which is why we're wary about the Chunin Exams since it's supposed to be in our village." Moyasu muttered.

"Are there any clues on who the spy is?" questioned Nikushimi, looking down at her right hand. It had a thicker layer of bandages than the rest of her body since she was actually injured there.

"No, but the village security has been tightened and extra precautions are being taken." Moyasu answered, looking at each of his students with a serious expression. Nikushimi blinked, and then shrugged to herself.

"Oh… can I get back to my research now if that's it?" Nikushimi asked.

"How can you be so nonchalant on this?!" Tatakau exclaimed, looking at Nikushimi, "There's a spy in the village who can kill us in our sleep!"

"Well, we're ninja. We can protect ourselves if necessary." Nikushimi replied with another nonchalant shrug. This proved to piss Tatakau off more, but he managed to keep calm.

"But what about the civilians? They can't protect themselves." Tatakau pointed out, trying his hardest not to get into an argument with his shorter companion like he usually did. Nikushimi nodded, agreeing the civilians couldn't protect themselves.

"Yes, it's true civilians can't protect themselves, but we have so many good ninja in our village, I'm sure the spy will get caught soon." Nikushimi chirped, grinning. She stood and looked to her sensei.

"Moyasu-sensei, can I leave now? I want to get more research done, that way I can heal my hand so we can take part in the Chunin Exams." Nikushimi said confidently, making a fist with her left hand.

"You can go, but I want you three to be careful, I don't want you all becoming victims to this spy. Don't die." Moyasu warned. The three all nodded and Nikushimi made her way back to the library. Uragiri had left, however her books were still there. Nikushimi grinned as she sat down.

'Alright, this book for sure!' she thought, taking another book. She still had many more books to go though.

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0_

Nikushimi slammed her head into the table the next morning. Obito sat next to her, sipping his usual as he watched the frustrated girl.

"I was up all night trying to figure out what to do, yet I couldn't think of anything! I've run out of books in the library, and some of the scrolls from my clan have complex seals on them that prevent me from opening them, so I can't find any information to help me." Nikushimi complained. Obito pat her head sympathetically.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." he commented, "You'll figure something out. You just need time. Besides, there have only been B Rank and higher missions lately so your team won't be needed so you do have time."

"No, I have a deadline to meet. My hand needs to be healed because if it's not my team can't enter the Chunin Exams." groaned Nikushimi. Obito blinked.

"Chunin Exams for you already? Moyasu thinks you guys are ready?" Obito asked. Nikushimi shrugged.

"He doubts that the Chunin Exams are going to happen from all the fighting going on, but if they do happen then my teams going to be in it to test our abilities. Sensei doubts we'll become Chunin first time around." Nikushimi explained as she took a sip of her own coffee.

"Nikushimi!" Nikushimi looked up and grinned upon seeing Uragiri heading over to her.

"Morning Uragiri!" Nikushimi chirped.

"Who's this?" Obito inquired. Uragiri answered before Nikushimi could.

"I'm Uragiri; you must be the famous Uchiha Obito I've heard about nonstop from Nikushimi. Although she never told me how good looking you are…" Uragiri trailed. Obito blinked and Nikushimi was left staring at Uragiri in shock.

'Is Uragiri…. flirting with Obito!?' Nikushimi's mind was blown.

"Eh, yeah I'm Obito." Obito nodded, trying to stop the awkward silence that overcame the three.

"Say, you're a ninja too right? I'm a civilian, but I'm trying to become a ninja." Uragiri informed him, batting her eyes. Nikushimi was feeling extremely awkward at the moment, her face was turning slightly pink. She did not like watching this.

"Oh, that's cool. You do research at the library with Nikushimi, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, me and Nikushimi are getting to be great friends!" Uragiri said brightly. Nikushimi nodded slowly, still slightly confused and pink faced.

"Anyway, are you doing anything later today for lunch? Maybe we can meet up and become… friends… too." Uragiri offered. Obito blinked. Then sighed. Nikushimi was able to read Obito well now. She knew that he was going to turn Uragiri down from his face and his sigh.

"Sorry, I'm not interested." Obito informed Uragiri. Nikushimi grinned, suddenly remembering something.

"Oh yeah, Obito likes Rin!" Nikushimi remembered. Obito's face turned a shade of light rosy pink. Uragiri frowned but nodded.

"I see… I was hoping you'd have said yes." Uragiri sighed. Then she looked to Nikushimi.

"I'll see you later at the library right?" Uragiri questioned.

"Yeah!" Nikushimi chirped.

"Awesome." Uragiri replied before she left. Nikushimi and Obito shared a look.

"Nikushimi, where'd you find her?" Obito asked in exasperation.

"The library." Nikushimi answered brightly.

"Well, she's weird. And I'm slightly creeped out by her." Obito told Nikushimi with a serious look. Nikushimi laughed in response. Nikushimi wasn't going to tell Obito, but the situation before had embarrassed her too, not just he and Uragiri.

"Oh, look it's snowing!" Obito said suddenly, looking out the window. Nikushimi flew around to find that it was in fact snowing gently. Nikushimi grinned.

"I hope it gets to be high enough for a snowball fight, it can be me and you against Tatakau and Shogai later!" Nikushimi decided giddily.

"It's probably not going to get that high, even though it is pretty cold for it only being December 6th." Obito replied. Nikushimi blinked.

"It's December 6th? Time fly's." Nikushimi murmured.

"Why, what's December 6th?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi blinked.

"Oh, there's nothing on December 6th, but later in the month…" trailed Nikushimi. Obito nodded.

"Oh yeah, Christmas!" he cheered. Nikushimi nodded, a smile slowly coming upon her face.

"Yeah." she agreed.

"Just 'Yeah' no 'Christmas yes! Presents and fun stuff!' from you? What's got you so out of character?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi shrugged.

"I guess it's just my hand bugging me, and the spy that Moyasu-sensei told me about." Nikushimi admitted.

"Oh, the spy? Minato-sensei told us too. He's kind of worried about it." Obito informed Nikushimi.

"Tatakau and Shogai seemed worried, but I tried to reassure them we have a lot of good ninja around here. Moyasu-sensei told us to not die when we left." Nikushimi replied. Obito, who had sipped his drink, spit some of it out trying not to laugh.

"He told you not to die? That's actually pretty funny. I can't believe he told you guys not to die." Obito snorted.

"Well, if the spy is dangerous then it's a possibility." Nikushimi commented. Obito turned serious.

"Nikushimi, promise me that you won't let this spy kill you." Obito ordered seriously. Nikushimi nodded.

"I promise, and we all know that I never break my promises. But if I have to make the promise, so do you. You're not allowed to die either! By this spy or by anything else!" Nikushimi declared. Obito laughed.

"I promise." Obito promised. Nikushimi grinned.

"Good, now, I hope this snow piles up." Nikushimi said, looking out the window. A small layer of white powder covered the street, but not a lot.

"It's probably not." Obito replied.

"I hope it does though." Nikushimi retorted. Obito only snorted in response.

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_

The next day Nikushimi woke up to a loud pounding on her apartment door. She shuffled to it with a heavy blanket wrapped around her and dragging on the floor.

"Yeah?" she questioned while holding back a yawn as she opened the door. Standing before her was her sensei.

"Nikushimi, good you're ok!" Moyasu almost yelled as he looked behind him and entered her apartment. Nikushimi blinked, confused.

"What happened?" she inquired as she led Moyasu over to the couch.

"I've already checked up on Tatakau and Shogai, they're fine. Their clans are good enough to protect them, but I wasn't sure about your family so I needed to make sure you were ok." Moyasu rambled.

"What happened?" Nikushimi repeated. Moyasu sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's unfortunate, but the spy caused more havoc. Almost three dozen ninja were murdered last night, and more bodies keep getting found." Moyasu explained gravely, "There were Genin, Chunin, Jounin, and even an ANBU were found dead."

"An ANBU?" Nikushimi questioned in alarm. Moyasu nodded.

"The spy is stronger than we thought, and we still have no idea who it is. The village is going into a kind of lockdown. No one is going to be able to leave or enter until this is resolved. If they can kill that many ninja without a trace, then there's a problem." Moyasu informed her. Nikushimi nodded slowly.

"Ok. Sensei, how were they all killed? It can give us a clue." Nikushimi inquired.

"There haven't been any autopsies released yet, but the thing is that the bodies didn't look bad. There was no blood, no bruises. But on them were strange green-blue marks shaped like a hand. We can't figure out what happened." Moyasu sighed, running a hand through his hair again. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling of the apartment.

"Say, where are your parents Nikushimi?" questioned Moyasu, looking around. Nikushimi frowned and looked at the floor.

"I don't know. I don't really know what to think about the afterlife. I am curious about what happens after life though." Nikushimi replied somberly. Moyasu blinked in surprise. Then nodded.

"I see… you're living on your own then? You've made it seem like you've had parents, you know." Moyasu commented, looking at the small girl next to him. Nikushimi sighed and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Most of the kids my age have parents, even if it's only one. My parents died when I was little, I've always been on my own. It's easier if people think you have parents, so if I'm not asked directly, I let everyone assume that my parents are just really busy on missions. It's easy enough, avoid the question, or answer vaguely." Nikushimi replied, looking somewhat sad.

Moyasu felt his heart almost break at the sight. He had always seen Nikushimi as excited or happy. He hadn't really seen this side of her. What killed him though, was the fact that the fire had died from her eyes. That fire was what made her Nikushimi, that fire gave even him hope. She was always determined and ready for anything. She seemed so young and fragile like this.

"I've never had a family really, sure I had my parents but they were out a lot. When I was an adult I moved out and that was that. But, I suppose having someone to return to is nice. An empty home isn't very homey." Moyasu commented.

"My parents were nice, what I remember of them. My mom was really short like me, and my dad really tall. I used to ride on his shoulders a lot, and my mom would look up at us." murmured Nikushimi, "I don't remember a lot though. Because it was so long ago since they died… and it was a special day they died on."

"Special day?" Moyasu inquired. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah, my birthday." Nikushimi replied, "So I don't celebrate my birthday. Especially since I usually would have to celebrate it by myself."

"When's your birthday?" questioned Moyasu.

"That's not important, you should go out and try and find the spy. That's more important." Nikushimi said morosely, standing and heading to the door. She allowed Moyasu to walk to the door, and she was about to close it when he turned around. Nikushimi was shocked when Moyasu wrapped his arms around her.

"Cheer up kid; you're not yourself when you're not happy." Moyasu said before he pulled from his one-sided hug and left. Nikushimi closed the door and she heard him yell again.

"See you later Nikushimi!" she heard him call. This brought a smile to her face.

"Moyasu-sensei is funny." she mused to herself before she turned around and looked at the clock. Then she groaned and walked back into her room where she promptly fell asleep upon reaching the bed.

It was just too early for anything else.

_0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o_

"I can't figure anything out." Nikushimi groaned as she and Uragiri walked through the village. Nikushimi's hand was still injured and she couldn't figure anything out. At the moment, Nikushimi was complaining to Uragiri as they walked through the village to Nikushimi's favorite café.

"Well, it looks like you won't be able to be a ninja anymore then. Or, you could be a handicapped ninja." Uragiri suggested as they reached the café.

"But I want to protect my friends!" Nikushimi protested. Uragiri blinked and looked at Nikushimi.

"Eh?" Uragiri questioned.

"My dream, my goal is to protect my friends, no matter what the cost is! Even if I have to die!" Nikushimi declared, and Akane looked up from the counter as they entered.

"Good afternoon Nikushimi!" called Akane.

"Afternoon!" Nikushimi chirped back as she and Uragiri took one of the booths. Nikushimi surveyed the room, something she had done since her sensei had told her about the dangerous spy a few days earlier.

Sitting at a table having tea were two Jounin that Nikushimi recognized Moyasu having talked to a few times. Then Akane was busy making coffee behind the counter. There wasn't anyone else in the café, so Nikushimi relaxed.

"Why were you so tense?" inquired Uragiri, her mint eyes looking around.

"There's a spy in the village, so I've tried to help find the spy so that all the ninja will stop being so tense…" Nikushimi trailed.

"I'm curious; you said your dream was to protect your friends, right? What if you had to kill one of your friends?" questioned Uragiri. Nikushimi blinked.

"Why would I have to kill one of my friends?" Nikushimi asked.

"Well, what if one of your friends ended up being the spy?" Uragiri questioned.

"Well, I'll never need to know what I would do, because all my friends are loyal Leaf ninja!" Nikushimi announced. Uragiri raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a Leaf ninja?" she questioned. Nikushimi paused.

"Oops, ok so my friends are a civilian and loyal Leaf ninjas." Nikushimi corrected. Uragiri nodded as Akane put Nikushimi's usual in front of her. Nikushimi thanked her and Uragiri told Akane what she wanted. When Akane brought it back, Uragiri stood.

"What would you do though? I am curious, would you be willing to kill your friend?" she questioned as she slowly walked towards the small table that held the sugar and milk and other condiments.

"Well," Nikushimi murmured, "It matters what happens. Like, say Obito was bad. I'd try and convince him to not do it. I couldn't kill him, he's my best friend."

"What if someone like, say I, tried to kill Obito. Then what would you do?" Uragiri asked as she picked through the sugar. Nikushimi thought for a moment.

"I don't really know. Luckily, none of my friends would try to kill my friends." Nikushimi laughed. Uragiri stayed silent.

"Uragiri?" Nikushimi asked. Uragiri didn't answer; instead she started walking back towards Nikushimi. However she paused at the table the two Jounin sat at.

"Looks like you aren't lucky." Uragiri stated, before she reached both her hands out and grabbed both the Jounin. Suddenly chakra seemed to get sucked up from the Jounin into Uragiri's hands faster than Nikushimi was able to comprehend. Then she let them drop on the table. Green-blue handprints were left where her hands had been. Uragiri gave Nikushimi a half crazed look as chakra congregated in clouds around her hands, which now dripped blue-green liquid. Then, Uragiri spoke.

"I'm the spy."

* * *

**AN**

**Well, it was guessed that Uragiri wasn't a good character. Uragiri is the spy.**

**Fun Fact****- Uragiri's hair and eyes are blue and green because of her Kekkei-Genkai which she uses to assassinate people she touches by sucking all their chakra out.**

**So poor Nikushimi, she's going to end up having to kill someone she thought was her friend. Or maybe someone else can kill Uragiri. Or maybe she'll get away. Or maybe Nikushimi will get killed. Either way, shit's going down.**

**And can anyone believe it's only been 20 chapters? Wow, Crimson Stained is going to be one long story. This isn't even to a quarter of the plotline yet.**

**Also, say hi to my amazing beta, Warrior of Sangre, the amazing beta to my story Wide Awake as well! This is the first chapter being beta-ed, although I've gone over this chapter like crazy and if there is a mistake, i'm shocked.**

**Sayonara!**


	21. Breaking Down

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 21_

_Breaking Down_

* * *

Nikushimi had never felt her heart stop like that. To hear that her friend, Uragiri, was the spy. Nikushimi's heart started to beat fast, and the room seemed to almost spin. Akane had started to scream, but Uragiri had silenced her with a grab to the throat. Akane was thrown over to the floor where she stayed limp. A green-blue hand print was visible on her throat.

"No… you have to be lying." Nikushimi whispered, her eyes widening. Uragiri walked up to Nikushimi, looking down at her.

"And to think, that I was in front of you for this long… I'm the one who placed the bombs in the hospital; I detonated them right after I left you. And I'm the one killing everyone. I was thinking of killing you, but… I've decided to leave you with even more pain. I'm going to kill your loved ones! My Kekkei-Genkai is flawless, if I even touch someone, they will die in a matter of seconds because I suck every single last drop of chakra, which you need to live, from your chakra system. It makes my chakra levels rise too; I'm basically an undefeatable soldier because I will never run out of chakra!" Uragiri laughed maniacally. Uragiri, who had once seemed so calm and collected, was now a psychopath who was about to go on a killing spree.

"Poor, poor, Nikushimi. Soon all her loved ones and comrades will be dead!" Uragiri gave a laugh before she used her chakra to dash out the door. As she ran down the street she would grab random civilians and ninja, easily and quickly sucking the life out of them.

Nikushimi was frozen to her place in the café. It seemed like forever, but she finally snapped out of it. And it was because of something she remembered.

"_My dream… no my goal is protect those who I care for, no matter the cost! Even if it means I have to die… then so be it."_

After she snapped from her daze she ran over to Akane. Before she even checked Akane's pulse, Nikushimi knew. Akane's chest was still, her eyes glazed over. Akane, the girl Moyasu had been crushing on, and the girl who Nikushimi had seen as someone she could count as a loved one, was dead.

'I didn't protect Akane… I was just… frozen… and now… I need to tell the Hokage!' Nikushimi quickly got up and sped out of the café. She ran down the streets, running faster than she had ever run before.

'I should have seen this coming!' Nikushimi thought as she dashed down the street.

'All these people dying… they're all my fault! I should have stopped Uragiri, I should have seen this coming!' Nikushimi continued to berate herself mentally as she dashed through the streets to the Hokage's office. When she reached it she flew in, ignored the outraged yells of the secretary and ran upstairs to the Hokage's office.

'I'm so slow! I could have been here already if I had my chakra!' Nikushimi thought angrily as she slammed into the door for the Hokage's office, making a loud thud. She fell backwards but scrambled up and pushed the door open.

The Hokage looked up from his paperwork in shock as the small girl flew in. The Hokage had come to see Nikushimi as a grandchild almost; she was very cheery and friendly. The Hokage though knew something was wrong from her panicked look.

"Nikushimi, what's wrong?" The Third Hokage questioned as Nikushimi gasped for air.

"T-the spy!" she sputtered. The Third Hokage's eyes widened.

"It's a b-blue haired girl named Uragiri. She's running around killing people! She sucks the chakra out of the bodies using her Kekkei-Genkai!" Nikushimi shouted, breathing heavily.

"Nikushimi, tell me-" But the Third Hokage's words were blocked from Nikushimi's ears because then Nikushimi realized something.

'She said she was going after my loved ones…' Nikushimi realized.

"Obito!" Nikushimi shouted, making the Hokage look at her strangely.

"She's going after him because of me! Oh shit!" Nikushimi sprinted out of the door, ignoring the Hokage's calls for her. Nikushimi once again began dashing through the streets.

'Where!? Where is Obito at this time!?' Nikushimi racked her brain desperately. Then, realizing it was just about time they would train together, Nikushimi headed to the training grounds.

'This is my fault, if Obito dies… NO! I'm not letting Obito die, no! I am not going to let him down like that! If he dies… I'm not letting that happen!' Nikushimi thought. And the usual fire came to her eyes. She started to run faster, being only a blur to those she passed. Unknown to her, she was focusing her power and strength in her legs.

She reached the training grounds and was able to see Uragiri approaching Obito casually.

"Hello Obito, I've been looking for you!" Uragiri chirped, walking towards Obito. Obito looked at her with a slight smile.

"Oh, good morning Uragiri, have you seen Nikushimi?" questioned Obito. Uragiri looked sad.

"The spy got her… I'm sorry." Uragiri lied, faking a sympathetic face. Obito's eyes widened.

"What?" he asked, shocked.

"I feel for you, I'm sad too. But don't worry…" Uragiri reached for Obito's chest as a twisted smile overcame her face, "You'll be joining her in seconds." Obito realized too late what she meant, and couldn't move. However, he didn't need to.

"OBITO!" Obito heard Nikushimi screech as a force plowed into him, sending him flying. Nikushimi had pushed him out of the way. Obito landed harshly, he rolled across the ground harshly and looked up only to watch Uragiri glare at Nikushimi.

"You little shit! You moved him before I could suck all his chakra out! I bet his chakra was sweet too, but now… now your chakra will be mine!" Uragiri screeched, and she reached forward, putting a grip on Nikushimi's neck. But then, she stood there in shock. Nikushimi realized what was happening almost right away.

"You suck chakra from the chakra system… that's great for people who have chakra systems… because of my Kekkei-Genkai; my chakra isn't in a chakra system. You can't get my chakra!" Nikushimi realized with a smirk. Uragiri's eyes widened and she continued to pull at the presence of chakra she felt in Nikushimi.

Nikushimi felt something happening, she could feel her body being tugged and jerked because of Uragiri. But she didn't focus on that. Instead, she grabbed a kunai from her pouch with her uninjured hand.

"You asked what I would do if one of my friends did this… and here's my answer!" Nikushimi yelled, her eyes starting to glow slightly. Uragiri's tugging at Nikushimi's chakra had done something. She had unplugged some of the buildup blocking Nikushimi's chakra. A sudden chakra spike was created and sent to Nikushimi's kunai, encasing it in an eerie red chakra aura. It came out and was sharpened to make the kunai longer.

"Die!" screeched Nikushimi, using her good hand to pull the kunai up and before Uragiri could remove her hand from Nikushimi's throat and move out of the way, Nikushimi's kunai plunged into the side of her head.

Blood was splattered everywhere as Nikushimi ripped her kunai back out and plunged it in again.

"I will protect my friends! I won't let you kill Obito! I won't let you kill anyone!" Nikushimi screamed, plunging the kunai in again. And again. And again. From his position on the ground, Obito watched Nikushimi. Her face was twisted in an unreadable emotion with blood splattered all over her. Her kunai was covered in the scarlet blood as Nikushimi repeatedly stabbed Uragiri's obviously dead corpse.

By the time other ninja got there minutes later, Uragiri's head was unrecognizable. The scene was gory; Obito having sat there the entire time, almost threw up multiple times. Nikushimi though, wouldn't stop. Her body was trembling and she looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. Various substances from Uragiri's head were spilled all around Nikushimi, who was sitting with her knees on either side of Uragiri's stomach.

"Nikushimi." Obito was able to recognize Moyasu, Nikushimi's sensei, as one of the ninja who had arrived.

"Nikushimi." Moyasu repeated, more firmly. But Nikushimi either ignored him or couldn't hear.

"Nikushimi stop, she's dead." Moyasu ordered, taking his hand and stopping Nikushimi's kunai as she tried to plunge it back into the bloody mess.

"C'mon, let go of the kunai." Moyasu cooed softly, and Nikushimi did as she was told. She brought her hands to her face, and her eyes widened. She continued to tremble as she stared at her hands, which were drenched and dripping the scarlet blood.

"I-I… I killed her…" Nikushimi murmured to herself. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes.

Obito couldn't believe his eyes. The entire time he had known Nikushimi she had been strong. She had never looked like this. She looked vulnerable. She looked so young and fragile.

'Nikushimi looks so small… she looks like a kid…' Obito thought, 'She's a ninja… is this really what being a ninja does to you?'

Moyasu scooped Nikushimi up and hugged her to him like a small crying child.

"Sensei…? Sensei!" Nikushimi clutched his neck and buried her head into his shoulder. Moyasu looked to the other ninja and made a gesture, most likely telling them what to do, or what he was going to do. He looked to Obito who was slowly standing, making sure not to look at the gory scene.

"Come with us, Nikushimi might need you." Moyasu ordered Obito gently and quietly as he rubbed Nikushimi's back, trying to sooth her. Nikushimi still wouldn't stop trembling.

Moyasu jumped up to one of the rooftops with Obito following. They flew to the hospital where they entered the psychiatric ward. A nurse quietly led them to a room where Moyasu sat down on the bed and allowed Nikushimi to clutch to him.

"She's crying." Obito realized quietly when he saw the scarlet tears dripping down her face and down Moyasu's green Jounin vest.

"Nikushimi, it's ok. It's over." Moyasu cooed to Nikushimi, petting her head and rocking her back and forth. A doctor entered the room, but he was ushered out when Nikushimi refused to move from her position clutching Moyasu.

It could have been hours, or maybe minutes. But they just sat there, Nikushimi never stopped trembling. Her injured hand was loosely hanging down off Moyasu's shoulder while her other hand gripped his vest so she couldn't be removed from him easily.

"Moyasu?" Moyasu looked up to see one of his fellow Jounin standing outside the door.

"Yeah?" he asked quietly, continuing to try to calm Nikushimi.

"You're needed, can you give her to someone else?" the Jounin asked, gesturing to Nikushimi.

"I'll be out in a minute." Moyasu told him, and the Jounin nodded, exiting the room.

"Nikushimi… Nikushimi." Moyasu whispered, trying to get her attention.

"Yeah?" she asked quietly after a few seconds.

"I need to go, but Obito is here. I'm sure he wouldn't mind sitting here with you." Moyasu said gently. Nikushimi clutched Moyasu harder, but then her grip loosened.

"Ok. Obito." she agreed in a whisper. Moyasu stood and handed Nikushimi to Obito. Automatically she koala clung to Obito. Moyasu grinned at Obito, pat Nikushimi's head once more and left. Obito meanwhile sat on the hospital bed and leaned back slightly so that he was comfortable. He rubbed Nikushimi's back, similar to how he had seen Moyasu try to comfort Nikushimi.

"I feel sick." Nikushimi informed him a few minutes later in a quiet voice.

"What kind of sick?" asked Obito. Nikushimi thought for a moment.

"Like I'm going to throw up, but my heart hurts too. But not physically." Nikushimi explained in a quiet murmur.

"It's ok Nikushimi." Obito replied, "You're safe now." Nikushimi gripped him tighter.

"I don't care what happens to me. After Uragiri left for you, I ran trying to find you. I thought I wouldn't make it and that she'd kill you. I was so scared. I've never been that scared before. Then, I didn't even think before I pushed you out of the way. I was lucky that she couldn't get my chakra because I don't have a separate chakra system." Nikushimi mumbled.

"I care what happens to you Nikushimi. You're my best friend. I was scared back there too, watching you and Uragiri. I thought you were going to die, and then… you just killed her. And you didn't stop." Obito admitted. Nikushimi stayed silent for a few moments.

"I trusted her Obito, I really did and she ended up being the spy… how could I have not realized? All those lives could have been saved had I realized." Nikushimi murmured. Obito shook his head.

"No, you couldn't have known. It's not your fault Nikushimi." Obito whispered, squeezing Nikushimi in a hug. They sat in silence, Nikushimi's thoughts not leaving the subject. Soon she fell asleep and Obito placed her on the bed where she curled up and hugged the pillow.

"Is she finally asleep?" he heard from the door. He looked up to see Rin pop her head in. Obito nodded and Rin walked in to take a seat on the bed next to him. They both looked at Nikushimi.

"How is she, mentally?"inquired Rin.

"Mentally? I can't tell, she didn't stop trembling until she fell asleep. She looked different when she was like that…. she looked younger, and more fragile. She was really spooked by it, and she blames all the deaths from Uragiri on herself." Obito explained. Rin nodded slowly.

"I think she'll be fine after she wakes up because most of the shock will be gone, why don't we take her home so she wakes up in a familiar place?" Rin suggested. Obito nodded and picked Nikushimi up gently. Rin took the pillow from her and tossed it back on the bed.

"Where's her apartment?" inquired Rin. Obito paused.

"You know, I've never been to her apartment. I don't actually know." Obito replied.

"I know where it is, I was there a few days ago." they heard. They turned to find Moyasu standing there, grinning. But despite the grin on his face, he looked tired.

"How many did Uragiri kill?" Rin questioned quietly. Moyasu shook his head, his grin fading.

"Bodies are still being found, but so far there have been two dozen dead. Bodies are still being found on the streets." Moyasu answered grimly.

"Oh…" Rin murmured.

"How is Nikushimi doing?" inquired Moyasu, looking at the sleeping girl Obito was carrying.

"She's fine physically, mentally though... she had a lot of shock. She'll be fine tomorrow morning; we're taking her home because it'll be better for her to wake up somewhere familiar." Rin explained. Moyasu nodded.

"Alright, follow me." Moyasu ordered lightly before he left the room. They followed him as he led them down streets. Obito was making mental notes of where Nikushimi's apartment was so that he could visit her tomorrow.

"Her parents aren't there actually, so it will just be Nikushimi unless someone stays with her." Moyasu informed them as he turned into Nikushimi's apartment building. Obito blinked.

"Where are her parents?" he asked curiously.

"Nikushimi didn't tell me exactly." Moyasu replied evasively, reaching Nikushimi's door. He tried opening it, but it was locked.

"Hm, she must keep her key in her pocket or pouches." Moyasu decided, looking to Obito. Rin searched through Nikushimi's pouches, eventually finding the key. They unlocked the door and entered the room.

Nikushimi's apartment was clean, there was a closed door and then an open door that led to a bedroom and a door that was open and showed the bathroom next to the bedroom door.

"That must be Nikushimi's room." decided Obito, looking at the open bedroom door. He maneuvered around the couch to get to it. He walked in and looked around. Her room was somewhat clean. Although the bed was a mess with blankets and pillows all over. Obito put her down on the bed and looked at her dresser which was next to her bed. She had two pictures so far.

The first was of her team. Moyasu had a hand on Tatakau's and Shogai's shoulders and was pulling them in. Shogai was smiling slightly while fixing his glasses a bit and Tatakau was smirking, although he didn't look like he wanted to be in the picture. Moyasu had a large grin on his face as he bent over so that his head was only a few inches above Nikushimi's. Nikushimi had her eyes wide and her smile was large, rivaling Moyasu's own grin.

'This picture is pretty good.' Obito noted, picking it up and looking at it closer. He turned it around to find that Nikushimi had dated the picture on the back and had labeled it 'My Team' and she named her sensei and teammates under it. It also had written that the location it was in was Konoha. He placed the picture back down and looked at the next.

This one was face down, most likely put that way. But Obito picked it up and scanned it. In the picture Nikushimi, who looked to be around three years old, was smiling. She was sitting on a man's shoulders while a shorter woman was smiling up at them from her own short height. The man had black hair with dark red eyes. The woman meanwhile had red and silver hair with silver eyes. It was a cute picture; the small Nikushimi's eyes were closed as she threw her arms up, most likely squeaking and giggling.

'Nikushimi and her parents.' Obito realized, picking the picture up. From behind Obito, Moyasu looked at the picture from over his shoulder.

'Her parents don't have the same eyes as her, Nikushimi has slit pupils, and her eye doesn't have the whites. Her parents have normal eyes with colored irises.' Moyasu thought, comparing Nikushimi to her parents.

'Although, I can see a resemblance with the facial structure. But even though they're both pale, Nikushimi is much paler. And looking at their smiles, Nikushimi seems to have sharper teeth, although that isn't a big difference.' noted Moyasu. Obito turned the picture around to find the picture was dated eight years before. However it looked like Nikushimi had tried to scribble out what was below it. Obito squinted, trying to read it. He wasn't able to make out anything, he couldn't read the scene either.

'It's too illegible.' Obito sighed and placed it back down, facing up. Moyasu looked over to Nikushimi with a look.

'Something tells me there's more of a story, and something about that story Nikushimi doesn't want to tell.' Moyasu thought. He picked the picture up again and turned it over. His flame colored eyes ran over the back. He squinted trying to read the location.

'Ketsueki…clan… compound… something illegible, and then Hikari.' Moyasu was able to make out. He placed the picture down.

'Hikari… why does that sound familiar?' Moyasu thought, trying to remember. He decided later he would look it up at the library.

"Do you think someone should wait here until she wakes up?" questioned Obito. Moyasu blinked, getting thrown out of his thoughts.

"The shock will most likely wear off so we can go." Rin answered. Obito took a quick look at Nikushimi and nodded.

"Alright." he agreed. The two of them left and Moyasu looked out the window, finding that it was starting to snow.

'It's snowing, although it is December 11th.' Moyasu noted, then he looked at Nikushimi.

'I hope that when she wakes up in the morning, she isn't scared.' Moyasu hoped, leaving and locking the door behind him.

* * *

**AN**

**Poor Nikushimi had a breakdown. But, the breakdown was crucial!**

**Fun Fact- Nikushimi's parents died when she was three.**

**So, I leave next week for another trip. The good news is I almost have the next chapter finished.**


	22. One of the Best Days

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 22_

_One of the Best Days_

* * *

Nikushimi awoke with a gasp, jumping upright. Her crimson eyes were wide as her pupils quickly darted around the dark room. Her breaths came in deep, uneven gasps as she looked around.

The dark seemed to mold together. Everywhere Nikushimi looked she saw silhouettes. One looked like Akane, another like Uragiri. Two looked like the Jounin in the café. All the silhouettes slowly vanished and soon, only Uragiri's remained. The head was slowly mutilated until the silhouette itself melted. Nikushimi was left by herself.

Nikushimi's arm quickly snaked out to the small lamp on her dresser. The light illuminated the room, and Nikushimi's eyes scanned it again. When nothing jumped out at her, she let out a sigh of relief. She stood, her still bandaged feet hitting the cold wood of her floor. She walked over to her window where the curtains were pulled closed. She opened them and looked out.

'It's snowing.' Nikushimi noticed. It wasn't snowing heavily, but the large white flakes contrasted against the dark sky. Nikushimi watched the snow for a few moments from her fourth floor window before she turned around and exited her room. She made sure to turn the lights on in her living room and kitchen area too. Then she made sure that the second bedroom was locked and that the bathroom was empty.

'It's times like this,' Nikushimi thought as she walked over to the small kitchen area to make some warm hot chocolate, 'That I absolutely hate living by myself.'

Nikushimi walked over into her living room, placing herself on the couch as she waited for the water in the kettle to heat up. She sat in total silence, leaning her head against the armrest. When she heard the low whistle of the kettle she stood and grabbed it. She poured the water into a mug before pouring the instant hot chocolate mix in. She stirred it and turned the lights off in the kitchen and living room before entering her room again with the steaming mug. Nikushimi pulled herself up onto the small area beside the window where she leaned against the cool glass. She drank her hot chocolate as she watched the snow fall.

'December 12th.' Nikushimi thought, looking over at the clock on her dresser. It told her that it was four in the morning. Nikushimi sighed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. The warmth the mug gave Nikushimi made her rest good hand around it completely and pull her legs up to rest the mug against.

'To think, Uragiri had been the spy the entire time.' Nikushimi thought sadly, taking another sip of her hot chocolate. The sweet and warm taste helped calm her.

'I can't believe I didn't notice it.' Nikushimi scowled at her hot chocolate. In the dark liquid she could see a slight reflection of herself. Her scowled lessened into a sad frown.

'I could have saved lives… Uragiri killed three dozen the other day. And a lot of people died in the hospital, and now there's less room in the hospital for the injured. That could cause more death too…' Nikushimi sighed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

'Why did I trust her?' wondered Nikushimi, 'She had seemed so normal. It just didn't seem like she had been able to be anything but a civilian trying to become a ninja.'

"I hate this." Nikushimi whispered to herself, leaning her head against the cool glass as she watched the snow fall.

"Uragiri had been a defenseless, ordinary civilian. But, she turned out to be an acting and lying spy. She betrayed me…" Nikushimi murmured, her warm breath fogging the glass up.

"I could have saved lives if I had just noticed…" Nikushimi muttered, putting her empty mug down on the corner of her desk, which she could barely reach from her spot on the window. She sighed and looked out the window.

For the rest of the day, Nikushimi didn't leave her apartment. Her thoughts were filled of thoughts of how she could have stopped Uragiri and of how Uragiri had betrayed her.

_0o0o0o0o0o0o_

The next day Obito was worried. He hadn't seen Nikushimi at all, and he knew from asking her teammates and sensei that she hadn't left her apartment. Tatakau and Shogai had tried visiting Nikushimi, but she hadn't answered. However there was light coming from her bedroom window, so they knew she was home.

Obito walked to Nikushimi's apartment slowly. The snow from the previous day was melting and would no doubt barely exist the next day, but he still left footprints in the light white blanket that covered the ground.

The sky was covered in clouds, and Obito wondered if it was going to snow again. The streets were rather empty, and it was dark and gloomy. Obito wasn't in his usual ninja gear either. His goggles had been left at home, as had his headband. Right now he had a long-sleeved shirt on with his normal jacket on and a pair of comfortable pants. He looked more relaxed now that usual. The change of attire was different.

Upon reaching Nikushimi's apartment Obito knocked. At first there was no response, so he frowned and knocked louder. He listened and stood there for a moment. He heard someone moving around inside the apartment, and sighed to himself.

"Nikushimi, I can hear you in there. Open the door!" Obito called. He heard a pause in the noise from the apartment, before footsteps shuffled towards the door. Then slowly it opened and he looked to see Nikushimi.

She looked different too. Her hair was down out of its ponytail and it flowed around her. Her bandages were off; however she had a black long sleeved shirt and black pants on.

"Yeah?" Nikushimi asked, looking up at Obito. Obito could already tell she was upset and disturbed. Her face was pale and she was frowning. And from what Obito could see, it looked as if she had been crying but had quickly tried to make the tear trails go away when she had answered the door. It was easy to tell when she cried because her tears were dark crimson and left red trails behind.

"I didn't see you since yesterday, and your teammates were having panic attacks when you didn't answer them yesterday." Obito explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "And I was worried too…" Nikushimi nodded.

"Oh, I probably didn't hear the door yesterday…" Nikushimi trailed. But Obito was able to tell she was lying. Nikushimi, although normally a good liar, was easily readable when she was upset.

"Eh, that's ok. So, I don't have any training or missions today because Rin has a shift at the hospital, Minato-sensei is busy, and Kakashi is a jerk, so do you want to head to Randebu?" Obito offered. Nikushimi blinked, and looked down.

"No… Uragiri killed Akane… so it's probably closed until they find a new waitress for her shifts." Nikushimi replied. She turned around and gestured for Obito to enter the apartment. She closed the door behind him and walked into her room where she picked up a mug of hot chocolate from her desk.

Obito's eyes scanned the room. Nikushimi had gone and sat on her bed, pulling her blankets over her head so that they covered her like a cloak. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and allowed her injured hand to rest on her knee.

'Hm?' Obito thought curiously. On Nikushimi's dresser, the picture of her and her parents was missing. Looking around, Obito saw that the picture had been moved onto the desk on the corner next to an empty mug. Obito looked over at Nikushimi who was frowning down into her other mug which was still full of hot chocolate.

"Do you blame yourself, Nikushimi?" Obito asked suddenly. Nikushimi's eyes widened slightly, before they closed.

"If I had only realized that Uragiri was the spy… I could have saved all those people she killed." Nikushimi replied. Obito frowned.

"Nikushimi, do not blame yourself. It was not your fault. You couldn't have known Uragiri was the spy; she was probably trained specially to be a spy. None of the ANBU or Jounin had been able to pick her out either, she was well trained." Obito lectured.

"But even so, I could have stopped her in the restaurant." Nikushimi spat bitterly, "I couldn't move though, I was frozen. And she killed Akane right in front of me. I couldn't do anything!"

"Nikushimi, Uragiri took out an ANBU before then. You had reason to be too scared to move, I'd have been the same! You're not invincible Nikushimi, you've been a ninja for only a short time too and I've been a Chunin for longer than you've been a Genin! Don't blame yourself!" Obito yelled, his hands clenched into fists. Nikushimi made a choking noise, and she looked up at Obito, her eyes brimming with tears.

"But Akane died! I couldn't save her! She was someone who I cared for, we saw her every day. And now… now she's gone forever because I didn't move!" Nikushimi cried. She placed her mug down on her dresser before turning back to Obito. She thrust her injured hand out to show him.

"I can't even fix this! I'm a horrible ninja!" Nikushimi snapped. Obito frowned. Nikushimi started trembling.

"I'm a horrible ninja… I'm a horrible ninja!" Nikushimi started crying, red tears trailing down from her eyes.

Obito had at once found Nikushimi's tears to be strange. They were red, not clear. Tears weren't supposed to be red. But, after some time, after he really had thought about it, Obito found that they actually fit Nikushimi. Her tears, being the same color as her strange eyes, made complete sense to him. He couldn't figure out why, but they just seemed to match.

"No, you're not a bad ninja, Nikushimi." Obito said, sitting next to Nikushimi on her bed and smiling at her. Nikushimi looked at Obito with disbelieving eyes, so Obito continued, "So far, all I've seen is you being strong. You were able to keep me and Tatakau alive in our mission, and you were able to kill that woman that other time. You rushed into the burning hospital too, and you came after Uragiri after alerting the Hokage. You've shown a lot of courage."

"But, Akane died in front of me. I couldn't save her… and you got hurt in that mission badly… and when I killed Uragiri, that was all luck. If, if it wasn't for my chakra disability, then… Uragiri would have killed me. She should have killed me." Nikushimi protested quietly. Obito frowned.

"No. No, Uragiri wouldn't have killed you. So far, you've been a great ninja. A ninja faces death in fights. The loser dies. You've escaped death so many times since that first time we left the village. A ninja's job may not be the best at times, times like now where there's so much fighting going on. But, you just need to tough through it. I believe in you Nikushimi, because you haven't given me a good reason as to why you're not a good ninja." Obito replied, putting a hand on her shoulder. Nikushimi blinked and looked up at him.

"… Thanks Obito." Nikushimi said quietly, "For cheering me up." Nikushimi gave Obito a small smile, and Obito grinned.

"I'm glad you're not sad anymore, anyway, do you want to come to my house? My parents are home, but they really want to meet one of my friends." Obito offered. Nikushimi stood up and nodded.

'I really hope that this cheers Nikushimi up even more…' Obito thought.

"Sure, just give me a few minutes to change." Nikushimi said, walking over to her dresser. She pulled it open and grabbed a few clothes before grabbing a roll of bandages and exiting the room to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Obito explored. He examined Nikushimi's room a little more; finding that at the end of her bed there was a small chest that was locked. Then he exited her room and looked around her kitchen and living room. Then he tried to open the door to what he assumed was her parents room.

Obito opened the door gently and peeked his head through. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the room though. The room was dusty, most likely never being opened. The window had a thick curtain over it and no sunlight streamed through. The large bed was bare, it only had a mattress. On the corner though the sheets were neatly folded and looked like they had never been used. Then there was a chest somewhat near the door. This chest was similar to Nikushimi's, only it was a lighter color and had a few stains on it.

Obito closed the door and walked over to Nikushimi's couch. He sat down, and was slightly confused.

'That's the only other door, and the only other bedroom. It looks like it's never been used though from all the dust piled up in there… Nikushimi's never said anything about her parents either…. where are they?" Obito wondered as Nikushimi exited the bathroom. She had her usual tank top and shorts on, but none of her weapons. Her hair was down and she was in the middle of finishing wrapping her bad hand.

"Ne, Nikushimi?" Obito started. He had more than one question, one of them being how she had bandaged her non-injured hand when her other hand was unusable, but he decided to ask the most important question first.

"Mm? Yeah?" Nikushimi asked, finishing her bandaging. She looked at Obito with a small grin.

"I was wondering… where are your parents?" Obito questioned. Nikushimi's eyes darkened almost instantly, and she looked down so that a shadow fell over her eyes as she closed them.

"I don't know…." Nikushimi answered somberly, "If they were good people, maybe heaven. If they were bad, they're in Hell. But, I don't really believe in anything like that, I don't know what's true. So, I just classify them as dead, really." Obito's eyes widened.

Her parents were dead? Obito was speechless for a moment.

'How could I have not thought of that?' Obito thought after a second. It wasn't impossible for a parent to die, especially with all the skirmishes that had been happening recently. But, to have both parents dead.

'Nikushimi is only eleven, and she has to live on her own?' Obito thought, looking at Nikushimi who looked a cross between angry and sad as she stared at the floor.

"They died when I was… four." Nikushimi said, looking up at Obito, "And my clan was wiped out. That's why I haven't been able to get help with my Kekkei-Genkai; my clan had been somewhat small, because a lot of our clan had been killed off from various reasons. Then… with just a single attack…. everyone was dead." Obito was stunned. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He wanted to sympathize with Nikushimi, tell her that it was ok. But he couldn't, because he highly doubted that it was anything less than heartbreaking to be the last living member of your clan.

"I was in the orphanage until I was six, then I received this apartment. It has some old stuff from my clan, but I keep them locked away." Nikushimi added, "All these people that died, they died because of the civil war in the Land of Light. The Ketsueki's are originally from there, and they were great assets to the rebellion. The clan was ordered to be wiped out. I was the only one to survive. Then, just after I escaped into the Land of Fire, the Land of Light was destroyed from the war. I don't know how I survived, I don't remember much. But, from thinking about it all this time, I don't know whether to say that destiny, which I don't believe in, wanted me to live. Or if I defied destiny."

"… I don't really know what to say." Obito admitted, "But, if it helps anything. I'm glad you survived, because you're my best friend. And if you weren't here, then I don't think that I would be as happy as I am." Nikushimi smiled at Obito.

"Now, let's get moving. It might start snowing again, so you should grab a jacket." Obito suggested.

"I'm fine, my bandages keep me warm." Nikushimi replied, exiting the apartment. Obito exited behind her and Nikushimi locked her door before they began their walk to the Uchiha district.

"Hey, Nikushimi, I was curious before. How did you bandage your good arm, if your other hand is unusable?" questioned Obito as they walked through the streets.

"Hm? Oh, it's very difficult, and hard to explain. But I need to use my mouth to hold the bandage, and then throw the roll over my arm and use my good arm to pick it up and try and throw it again. You can tell because the arm isn't bandaged as good as my other arm." Nikushimi explained, gesturing to her good arm with her bad hand.

"Is that why you took so long in the bathroom?" Obito questioned. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah… but I've gotten a lot better since I've had to do it every day since my hand got this way." Nikushimi answered, glaring at her hand.

"Don't worry about it Nikushimi," Obito assured her, "I'm sure that you'll figure it out." Nikushimi grinned and nodded.

"I'm not going to stop trying until I do." she agreed as they passed one of the weaponry stores. Nikushimi paused for a moment as she looked in.

"Ooh." Obito paused and looked at Nikushimi who was staring at one of the items in the window.

"What?" he asked, looking at the window too.

"See those senbon holsters? I've had my eyes on them forever. They're these rally cool ones that you set up with a seal in your pouch and then the holster on your hand. Then, when you use them they slid senbon out between your fingers. They're really cool." Nikushimi explained.

"I remember awhile ago you said something about them." Obito said thoughtfully, thinking back. Nikushimi nodded, and she threw one last glance at the holsters before they continued on.

They walked into the Uchiha district when it started to snow lightly. They walked down the streets and Nikushimi observed the houses as she walked past. They looked very nice and homey now that there weren't a million people on missions like Obito had said they had been on last time.

"I'm home!" Obito called as he reached his house and opened his front door, "And I brought Nikushimi!"

Almost as if setting a bomb off Obito jumped out of the way as a large gargantuan man whose head was almost hitting the ceiling came out of another room. His obsidian eyes locked on Nikushimi, and she swore that this man, this large scary man, was going to kill her. Nikushimi, taking a deep breath, looked directly up as he approached her.

"Wow, you're tall." Nikushimi said, hoping that she sounded like she should be spared. Although, then Nikushimi was flabbergasted.

"Obito, she's adorable! Where have you been hiding her?" the man asked as he knelt down so that he wasn't almost twice Nikushimi's height.

"Ryota, don't embarrass Obito in front of his friend!" Nikushimi heard a woman's voice call. Ryota chuckled in response.

"I'm not embarrassing him!" Ryota called back.

"Dad, can you let me and Nikushimi in now?" Obito questioned, not at all fazed by the strange scene before him. Ryota stood and grinned at them.

"No, you two can eat outside in the cold." he replied before turning around and walking back to where he had been previously. Nikushimi gave Obito an incredulous look.

"Don't worry, my dad looks intimidating because of his height, but he's a real big baby. My mom always complains about their missions because of that." Obito told her in response to her look. Then he pushed Nikushimi along gently and she was pushed into the kitchen and dining area. A woman with long black hair was at the kitchen, cooking. She turned around though and chuckled when she saw Obito forcing Nikushimi, who looked very doubtful, into the room.

"I'm Obito's mom, Nobuko. It's nice to meet you." Noboku said kindly. She was very average in height, but what Nikushimi found interesting was her eyes were a bit lighter than most Uchiha's, hers were a bit more of a dark blue than a black. Obito was a mix of his parents, Nikushimi finally decided. He was rather tall, but not extremely like his father. He wasn't muscled like his father either, he had more of a lean figure like his mother. And his face was identical to his mother; only his mothers had more feminine characteristics; however he had his dad's hair and eyes.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi." Nikushimi chirped, giving Obito's dad a wary glance quickly. The man was twice her size; she was not very comfortable yet, especially since he had nearly scared her to death originally.

"Obito, you took long enough. It will be dark out soon and dinner is going to be served soon." Noboku said to her son, "In other words, you're late."

"It gets dark fast in the winter!" Obito protested. Noboku shook her head.

"You're always late Obito, despite the day and season." Noboku replied, narrowing her eyes at Obito.

"It's true," Nikushimi agreed, "You are always late. I always set our training earlier than the real time because if I got there at the right time, then I'd be waiting forever." Noboku gave the now sheepish Obito a triumphant look.

About ten minutes later the four of them were sitting down, dinner ready. Nikushimi was extremely pleased to eat a home cooked meal; she wasn't the best cook so she usually ate at Randebu, unless she had instant ramen or something to eat.

"This is very good." Nikushimi complimented as she finished swallowing.

"Thank you Nikushimi." Noboku smiled, before glaring at her son and husband.

"You two stopped complimenting my food awhile ago." Ryota and Obito shared looks, both their mouths full. Obito swallowed first.

"Because you already know that your food is amazing." Obito pointed out. His mom's eyes narrowed, but she accepted the answer. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Noboku looked at Nikushimi.

"Your name is very interesting Nikushimi." Noboku commented. Nikushimi blinked.

"Is it?" she asked, genuinely curious. Noboku nodded.

"I haven't heard of many Nikushimi's, although Nikushimi means 'hatred' which is why I would assume there aren't many Nikushimi's." Noboru explained. Nikushimi frowned.

"I never asked why I was named Nikushimi." Nikushimi sighed, "Now I'm curious though."

"Ask your mother when you get home." Noboku said, "It's nice to know what your name means. Noboku means faithful child, and Ryota means stout and strong." Nikushimi frowned.

"Eh…" Obito coughed and started choking on his food.

"I would, but my parents are dead." Nikushimi said casually, taking another bite of her food. Noboku immediately looked like she regretted saying that.

"Oh, I'm sorry Nikushimi, I didn't know…" Noboku apologized. Nikushimi grinned at her.

"It's fine." Nikushimi shrugged. Then Ryota decided to ask a question, which both seemed to be very interested in doing suddenly.

"Nikushimi, I've been looking at your eyes. They're very peculiar, do they have a Dojutsu?" Ryota questioned. Nikushimi shook her head.

"No, my Kekkei-Genkai isn't a Dojutsu. My Kekkei-Genkai… I can't explain much of it, but, the Ketsueki clan was well known for our outstanding healing abilities. Although, I'm not a very good Ketsueki." Nikushimi sighed, holding up her bad hand. Obito groaned.

"You'll figure it out eventually Nikushimi. How many times must you be told? You already showed us that you can heal, after you healed yourself from near death twice and healed Yuki who was dying." Obito snorted.

"The problem with this injury is that my hand was basically baked. My Kekkei-Genkai may screw up my chakra, so I have to be extremely careful. What I used to heal myself and Yuki that time, and then later my neck in the other mission, is very difficult to use. Once I can get the hang of it, I would be able to heal anything, however… I only use it if I can die from the wound. I've been very lucky those times I used it. Yuki survived because all I had to rebuild was tissue and organs, which is extremely easy for the Jutsu. The same with my neck. But here in my hand, the tissue isn't ruptured. It's like something you would barbeque. And it's so distorted; the internal damage could be serious too." Nikushimi lectured. Obito blinked, trying to process and understand Nikushimi.

"So, you could heal Yuki and yourself the other times because you were only bleeding out your insides. But you can't heal your hand because it was barbequed and you have no idea what happened to the inside of you hand." Obito deducted.

"Yes." Nikushimi nodded.

"To me, it doesn't make much sense." Obtio confessed, "But I'm sure that whatever you're doing, you know about it than I do."

"How did you injure your hand that badly?" Noboru inquired. Nikushimi smiled sheepishly.

"When the hospital had been attacked I had run into it… I grabbed a doorknob and it basically melted the skin from the intense heat, not to mention all the other things that I had to do in the hospital to get to where I had to go." Nikushimi laughed.

"Nikushimi had run in to save me, and she helped the other patients by getting to the sprinkler system and turning it on." Obito added, grinning.

"Oh?" Noboru asked. Ryota looked interested too.

"It was nothing; I'm willing to do anything to protect my comrades." Nikushimi announced.

"Nikushimi even-" Nikushimi knew what Obito was going to say and she immediately clamped her hand good hand over his mouth. She gave him a short glare before smiling at his parents, who now looked even more curious.

"What did she do?" Ryota questioned. Nikushimi didn't remove her hand from Obito's mouth as he tried to respond, however Nikushimi's hand muffled him. Obito smacked her hand away and took a big breath.

"She was the one who killed the spy!" Obito gasped, Nikushimi punched his arm and gave him a death glare.

"You took out the spy?" Noboru asked, looking very interested and slightly skeptical. Obito nodded furiously.

"She did, the spy was a girl name Uragiri, who had been pretending to be Nikushimi's friend. Uragiri came after me, but Nikushimi pushed me out of the way and Uragiri couldn't kill Nikushimi because of her Kekkei-Genkai, so Nikushimi was able to kill her with a kunai!" Obito explained excitedly.

"Don't act as if I did something amazing, I should have realized she was the spy sooner." Nikushimi snapped. Nikushimi wasn't very happy to be on this topic at the moment. It was a vulnerable area for her at the moment, a weak spot.

"You couldn't have possibly known!" Obito said in exasperation.

"I could have figured it out!" Nikushimi argued. Both locked glares. However their attention was turned to Noboru when she cleared her throat. Her stony exterior had seemingly melted, and she smiled at Nikushimi.

"Thank you for saving our son, if that's the case. From the sounds of it, if you hadn't of been there, Obito wouldn't be here now." Noboru thanked Nikushimi warmly, Ryota nodding in agreement.

"Huh?" Nikushimi looked stunned.

"Mom, dad, this is why I don't bring anyone over. You're embarrassing." complained Obito. Nikushimi gave Obito a confused look.

"Mom likes to try and scare my friends when they come over, she basically interrogates them. This is why I've never brought anyone else home." Obito explained.

"Because I want to make sure that you hang out with the right people." Noboru huffed.

"I hang out with my team and Nikushimi." Obito retorted.

"And I still haven't met your teammates." Noboru replied, looking annoyed.

"This is why." Obito informed her. All the while, Nikushimi sat there, trying to process the strange family in front of her.

"I was being interrogated?" she finally asked.

"You were asked like, a million questions!" Obito complained, shooting a look at his mom, who was just smiling at him.

"Oh…" Nikushimi trailed, looking up at a clock on the wall, "It's late, I think I'm going to head home." Obito blinked and looked at the clock.

"Already?" he sighed. Nikushimi nodded.

"Thank you for having me, it's nice to have a home cooked meal every once in awhile." Nikushimi thanked.

"You're welcome anytime Nikushimi." Noboru offered. Nikushimi stood and Obito followed.

"I'll walk you home." Obito announced, and Nikushimi nodded. They slipped their shoes on, and Obito grabbed a coat as they exited the house.

They walked in silence for awhile as it snowed lightly around them. Nikushimi watched the white flakes against the dark sky. She found the sight amazing. She had to admit that even though snow was freezing; when it was falling she found it to be extremely pretty.

"Thanks Obito." she said suddenly as they reached her apartment.

"It was just dinner." Obito shrugged. Nikushimi grinned at him.

"Yes, it was, but it was my first home cooked meal in a real long time. And, it's a special day today." Nikushimi explained.

"What's so special about today?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi gave him a grin and a shrug.

"Nothing too special, just my birthday." Obito's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" he demanded. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah, I'm twelve now!" Nikushimi chirped.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?!" Obito cried. He was extremely upset, it was his best friend's birthday and he didn't know! His heart was breaking, he felt like a horrible friend.

"My birthday's never been important to me," Nikushimi said with another shrug, "I haven't celebrated in a while. Besides, I don't feel like my birthday should be celebrated, because not only is it the anniversary of when I was born, but it's the anniversary of the day my parents died and the day my clan was destroyed. I'm not sure what time I was born, so I'm not sure if I was three or four when my parents died." Obito and Nikushimi stood in silence as Obito took this in.

'I feel so bad for Nikushimi…' Obito thought sadly. He looked down at Nikushimi.

You wouldn't think, looking at her, that she held such a heavy weight on her shoulders. The small girl, who looked so frail right now, who always looked so happy and energetic. She just didn't seem like she held such a burden as being the last of her clan.

Suddenly Obito wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. Nikushimi's eyes widened and she froze as Obito hugged her.

'A hug? Why?' Nikushimi wondered, 'I haven't been hugged in a while… it's… nice.'

"See you later, Nikushimi." Obito told her cheerfully as he let go and waved to her before walking away. Nikushimi watched him as he disappeared down through the snowflakes. Then, she laughed.

"I think this is the best birthday that I've ever had…" Nikushimi mused, heading inside. Upon heading inside, she walked into her room and changed into her pajamas. Then she took her mugs and set them in the sink before grabbing the picture of her and her parents.

She set the picture on her dresser next to her team as she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

**AN**

**Awwww, so cute.**

**And Nikushimi's birthday isn't a total surprise because in an author's note a few chapters back I mentioned her birthday is December 13th, and I've been keeping track of the date in the story.**

**Also, tomorrow I leave on vacation for another week or so. I'm going to amusement parks, YAY.**

**Fun Fact- Nikushimi never celebrated her birthday ever since her parents died.**

**Sayonara!**


	23. Making Plans

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 23_

_Making Plans_

* * *

"Good to see you three." Moyasu greeted as he slid into the bar stool, next to his three friends.

"You're late Moyasu, Fauru's going to be drunk to Hell soon!" Chikyu huffed, her sightless mint eyes narrowing in the general direction of Moyasu. Fauru meanwhile gave the orange haired woman a slight glare.

"Fuck you, Chikyu, you'll be even fucking worse!" Fauru swore. Chikyu snorted.

"I'll be fine." she replied dismissively, beside her Chimu sighed.

"I'm going to assume I'm the one who can't get drunk tonight?" Chimu questioned.

"No, I'll be the sober one." Moyasu offered. Chikyu's eyes widened.

"Wow, that's a first. Usually you love to get drunk off your ass!" she laughed, Fauru chuckling next to her.

"I can't be hung over tomorrow, have you heard who killed the spy?" Moyasu inquired as he watched Chikyu feel the counter for her drink. She grabbed one, which happened to be Fauru's, and took a sip of it before making a face. She put it down closer to where Fauru was and searched for her own.

"I heard it was a Genin? Although the Genin Chimu and I had to assess in the beginning were horrible, so I don't know how that happened if all the Genin are like that." Chikyu sighed, finally finding her drink and taking a sip of it.

"It was a Genin, one of my three to be exact." Moyasu added. Chikyu spit her drink out.

"No shitting?" she demanded. Moyasu nodded, then vocalized his yes, remembering Chikyu was blind.

"Damn, which one? I bet it's that Uchiha, he seems like an arrogant prick, almost like Fauru." bet Chikyu, grinning cockily in the general direction of Fauru.

"Fuck you, Chikyu!" Fauru cursed. Chikyu waved him off.

"It wasn't the Uchiha or the Garasu, it was my last student, the girl." Moyasu explained.

"Girls kick ass, you guys suck." Chikyu cheered. Fauru raised an eyebrow at Chikyu. As if knowing he was doing this, she grinned at him.

"You're the one who does the sucking-" Fauru was cut off by Chimu reaching past his sister and placing a hand over Fauru's mouth.

"We don't need, or want, to hear about your and my sisters endeavors in bed." Chimu scolded, glaring at the brown-haired man. Fauru merely smirked at him his dark hazel eyes showing his arrogance.

"Yeah, I _really _don't want to know the details on that." Moyasu agreed, trying to prevent Chimu and Fauru from arguing. Chimu turned his head to look at Moyasu.

"So Moyasu, you have a reason for bringing this up?" Chimu questioned, "You aren't boasting, as Chikyu and I failed our teams. And Fauru isn't allowed to have a team so it's not like you're making us jealous or anything." Moyasu sighed.

"I'm rather worried about Nikushimi's mental stability after it; she rather, mutilated the spy's body. She couldn't stop bashing the spy's head in. And she refused to leave me until I gave her to her friend since I had to leave. Her trembling didn't stop while I was there either." Moyasu explained. Chimu nodded.

"I see, I feel bad for her. It seems as if a war is going to break out soon." Chimu sighed.

"I agree, and we had to grow up during wartime, I'm hoping this doesn't escalate any further into war, wartime is harsh." Moyasu agreed, thinking back to the Second Great War. Chikyu nodded in agreement.

"Ah, don't I know it. I still wish I could see, so that I could knock that slimy bastard's head off next time I see him. He cost me my eyesight, and I know he's still alive because it was the end of the war I lost my sight. And I injured him good, not fatally, but enough to get him shipped out of the battlefield." Chikyu said somberly.

"You're a fine ninja without your eyesight, your earth Jutsu helps you immensely, it helps that you had Akane-sama as your master, her blindness was similar and she helped you develop your Jutsu style." Chimu reminded her.

"Yeah, but these gauntlets are irritating and heavy, and I hate walking around barefoot. Do you realize what I step in everyday?" Chikyu complained.

"You had a master who helped you with your handicap?" Moyasu inquired. Chikyu turned and faced where she heard Moyasu's voice.

"Yeah, Akane-Shishou. She was blind too, and she helped me create my own way of 'seeing' like she does. She was a wind type user though, and I was earth. So she explained that she used her wind style to feel the wind. She could feel objects around her because of the air flow. But, the problem with that was that she couldn't see lower objects." explained Chikyu intently, "My Jutsu allows me to feel vibrations in the earth, as well as pressure. The gauntlets I wear allow me to help concentrate, and my feet are bare so I have the best connection with the earth. But I've had to sharpen my hearing extremely, because I can't feel the air like her so I cannot see anything that isn't connected to the ground. Weaponry is extremely dangerous to me."

"And your way around that?" Moyasu asked. Chikyu grinned.

"The gauntlets around my ankles are normal; however the ones around my wrists have dirt in them. When I'm in combat, or in other instances, I can swing my arms around and allow dirt to fly out, giving me vision. This is also why I created my other Jutsu, the Dust Sweep Jutsu. It gives others a smokescreen, and me a way of seeing." Chikyu finished triumphantly.

"In reality, I think Chikyu would have been better being an Iwa ninja because of their rock affiliation." Chimu added.

"No, I prefer the Leaf village. The Rock village, I'm willing to bet, has rough terrain that would suck to walk on for me." Chikyu disagreed.

"Say, why were you so curious anyway?" wondered Chikyu, her eyes narrowing on a spot somewhat near Moyasu's head.

"My student Nikushimi is handicapped because she can't use her chakra at the moment because of her Kekkei-Genkai, and her clan can't help her-" Moyasu was interrupted.

"Why the fuck not? Are they one of those shitty prestigious asshole clans?" Fauru snapped. Moyasu shook his head.

"No, they're all dead. Nikushimi is the last of her clan." Moyasu explained gravely. Chimu's eyes widened, and Fauru looked slightly remorseful for what he had said. Chikyu's eyes were empty, however they had widened.

"Because of this, I'm hoping to perhaps find her another teacher, a master, who can't use chakra." Moyasu admitted. Chikyu looked in the general direction of her brother, who shared a look at her.

"This might cause more harm than good, but recently an ANBU took a leave from it because she wanted to develop some new techniques." Chimu started.

"But," Chikyu finished for Chimu, "She can't use chakra. She's had to physically train herself to be able to keep up to those who can use chakra by finding other methods. But she's a harsh person, and I doubt she'll take on an apprentice easily."

"What's her name?" Moyasu questioned.

"Kurushimi Tamashi."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Early the next morning, Moyasu found himself rushing through the streets, extremely glad he had not drunk with his friends the previous night. Although, he did get some good blackmail on Chikyu, Fauru, and for once, Chimu. He supposed that having to drag the three drunken ninja home had been worth it in the end. And now he knew why he feared Chimu at times, Chimu, always the one to drag them home must have gotten large amounts of blackmail.

'Chimu, despite being large and friendly, is extremely cunning.' Moyasu mused with a smirk as he strolled past the Uchiha clan compound, on his way to the Hokage to ask more about this Kurushimi Tamashi. However, he paused a few seconds later.

"Ah, Moyasu! Perfect timing!" Moyasu turned, only to see Uchiha Obito running towards him from the Uchiha compound gates, pulling his goggles on and fixing his jacket. Upon reaching him, Obito grinned, fixing his goggles and jacket completely.

"What is it, Obito?" asked Moyasu, looking down at the cheerful Uchiha. Obito turned serious.

"Did you know that Nikushimi's birthday was yesterday?" he asked in all seriousness. Moyasu's flame colored eyes widened.

"Was it really?" Moyasu questioned. Obito nodded.

"Yeah, I'm planning on getting something together for her. Meet me outside her apartment at nine; I'll probably have everyone else by then. Oh, can you wake Tatakau up for me? I'll get Shogai and a few others." Obito explained quickly. Moyasu smiled.

"Alright, I'll go wake up my _cute_ little student." Moyasu agreed, internally grinning evilly. Obito, not caring at all that Moyasu was most likely going to wake Tatakau in a way Tatakau would not appreciate, nodded and took off. Meanwhile, Moyasu entered the Uchiha compound, the guards recognizing him as Tatakau's sensei.

He made his way to his student's house, meeting his mother on her way out. She smiled brightly upon seeing Moyasu.

"Oh, good morning Moyasu, are you here for Tatakau?" Suteki asked. Moyasu nodded, returning her smile with his own grin.

"I am, his teammate's birthday was yesterday, but no one knew so we're rushing around to do something for her today." explained Moyasu. Suteki nodded.

"Alright, well Tatakau's room is upstairs, the door at the end of the hall on your right. I'm glad he's getting up early today, he can be such a lazy boy." Suteki smiled and continued on her way. Meanwhile, Moyasu entered the home and ascended the stairs. He made a right when he reached the second floor and opened Tatakau's door quietly.

Tatakau was snoring, somewhat loudly as he was sprawled out on his bed. His mouth was wide open, and it was obvious that nothing less than what Moyasu was going to do would wake him.

Moyasu found the bathroom in a few minutes and borrowed a rather large bowl from the kitchen. He filled it with icy cold water, which he then carried into Tatakau's room. He stood above his student, already a large grin on his face.

"Wake up, my _cute_ little student!" called Moyasu loudly, right before he dumped the icy cold water right onto Tatakau. Right as the water hit him, Tatakau jumped up with a loud yell. He looked around in alarm until his obsidian eyes landed on his grinning sensei.

"What the hell sensei!?"

Meanwhile, Obito was just arriving at the Garasu compound. He entered the compound after explaining to the guards he was a friend of Shogai's.

The Garasu compound was a rather large home that was full of pale colors and was completely sterile. Obito didn't see a speck of anything dirty, or anything that could cause any illnesses. The place reminded him of a hospital almost, except there were no nurses or doctors rushing around. But there were ornate glass structures within the house. They decorated it, from a grand chandelier, to just a simple yet elegant vase that held fake flowers.

"Obito? What are you doing here?" Obito heard as he knocked lightly on the door. It opened to reveal Shogai, already prepared for the day.

"Ah, Shogai, I was looking for you!" exclaimed Obito, "Yesterday was Nikushimi's birthday!" Shogai blinked, then his eyes widened slightly.

"Yesterday was Nikushimi's birthday? She never told us…" Shogai trailed. Obito nodded.

"She doesn't usually celebrate, but I'm planning on getting something together for her. Can you meet me at her apartment today at nine?" questioned Obito. Shogai nodded.

"Sure, do you need anything?" Shogai asked, coughing slightly into his arm, as usual.

"No, but if you want you can bring her a present. And you can go make sure Moyasu and Tatakau aren't goofing off." suggested Obito. Shogai nodded in response and Obito took off again.

This time he reached his sensei's house. He knocked on the door and his sensei opened the door, looking groggy.

"Obito? It's a day off today, why are you here so early?" Minato questioned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Ah, sorry sensei, but, is it possible Kushina could maybe bake a cake or cupcakes? It was Nikushimi's birthday yesterday, and no one knew so I'm rushing around trying to get something ready for her." explained Obito. Minato went to answer but was pulled out of the way, only to be replaced by a red-haired woman.

"You have a girlfriend Obito?" she inquired with a big smile as her blue eyes twinkled mischievously. Obito's face turned pink.

"No! Nikushimi is my best friend!" Obito exclaimed. Kushina's smile didn't waver.

"If you say so, you need a cake? What kind?" Kushina questioned.

"Um, any kind. Nikushimi does like chocolate though." decided Obito.

"Alright, come back in an hour and I'll have a cake done." Kushina ordered, turning around and entering the house quickly. Minato looked at Obito and chuckled.

"She'll have it done, what are you planning?" asked Minato, looking down at his student. Obito grinned.

"Nikushimi probably won't want to leave her apartment, so I'm going to bring everyone to her. I already told her teammates and her sensei, but I'm not sure who else she knows." admitted Obito. Minato made a thoughtful expression.

"Why don't you invite Rin? She and Nikushimi seemed to get along, and she can be a female friend to Nikushimi." Minato suggested. Obito nodded.

"That's a good idea, do you think that's enough people?" questioned Obito.

"I would say Kakashi, but he and Nikushimi seemed to get along like oil and water." Minato commented. Obito nodded.

"Alright, oh, sensei? Do you want to stop by?" Obito asked.

"I might stop by later." Minato replied. Obito bid his goodbyes before jogging away. This time he headed to where Rin lived.

Rin lived in a rather normal house with her family. It wasn't an extremely large compound house like the Garasu house or a large group of houses like the Uchiha clan compound. Rin had a rather small clan, so they didn't share a compound.

"Hello Obito, are you looking for Rin?" Rin's mother answered the door, the woman's brown eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, is she here?" Obito inquired. Rin's mother shook her head.

"No, she's at the hospital with Kaede-sama." she answered.

"Ok, I'll look there." Obito bid her goodbye before taking off in the direction of the hospital. He jogged to the hospital, quite satisfied. So far this was taking less time than he had originally assumed.

Upon reaching the hospital Obito was able to spot Kakashi and Rin out front. He jogged over to them. Although Obito didn't notice that he didn't have the usual jealous feeling in his gut as he usually did when Rin spoke to Kakashi.

"Could you possibly help me train, Kakashi? Kaede-sensei only teaches me about Medical Ninjutsu." Obito heard Rin ask as he stopped in front of them. They both turned to him as he cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Oh, good morning Obito." Rin greeted him with a big smile. Obito grinned at her.

"Morning Rin, I've been looking for you." Obito informed her.

"Really? Why?" inquired Rin. Obito nodded.

"Yeah, yesterday was Nikushimi's birthday, but she didn't tell anyone. So today I'm rushing around trying to set something up, do you want to come?" offered Obito. Rin smiled.

"I'll come, what are we doing?" she questioned.

"Well," Obito explained, "We're going to surprise Nikushimi at her apartment. Can you meet me there at nine?"

"Sure, do you need me to bring anything?" Rin asked, smiling.

"No, unless you want to bring a present for Nikushimi." Obito answered.

"What about the training?" Kakashi asked Rin with a bored expression. Rin turned to him, pink from forgetting Kakashi had been there.

"Oh, sorry Kakashi… do you think you can help me another day?" Rin apologized with a small sheepish smile. Kakashi just nodded and walked away.

"I'll tell Nikushimi happy birthday for you!" Rin called to him, but he ignored her as he disappeared. Rin bid her goodbye to Obito and she hurried off. Obito grinned to himself.

"Good, now I just need to get Nikushimi a present." Obito decided, walking towards the shopping district. And then, he remembered something and knew exactly what to get her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Nikushimi usually woke up when she felt like it and she usually woke up calm, unless she had a nightmare. But never in her life had she been startled awake like this.

"Happy late birthday!" And seconds later, before Nikushimi had even opened her eyes, Nikushimi felt a lot of weight on top of her.

"AH!" Nikushimi screamed, her eyes snapping open as she flailed her arms. Her blanket wrapped around her as she tried to escape and she tripped and fell to the floor. She blinked and looked up to find the source of her rude awakening.

"Obito, what the hell?" she questioned as she unraveled the blanket around her and stood up, pulling the blanket around her shoulders so that it fell around her like a cloak.

"Since we missed your birthday yesterday, we've decided to surprise you today!" Obito cheerfully told her as he gestured to her teammates, sensei, and Rin who stood in her room. Nikushimi was speechless. Then, a large smile broke out across her face.

"I suspected you would have suspected something if I tried to bring you somewhere to celebrate or you may have just not wanted to leave," Obito explained as he led her out of her bedroom behind the others, "So I brought everyone here to surprise you."

"You should've told us it was your birthday." Moyasu scolded her lightly as he ruffled her hair, making the bed head worse. Nikushimi pulled her hands through it quickly, then blushed. She quickly dashed into the bathroom, before coming out a few minutes later with her hair brushed and bandages on her arms.

'Nikushimi's bandages weren't on before!' realized Obito, 'That's why she had her blanket around her like that…' Nikushimi was suddenly swarmed by everyone though before Obito could think more on the matter.

"Oh Nikushimi, Kakashi says happy birthday too!" Rin cheerfully told Nikushimi. Nikushimi blinked.

"Does he really?" she asked. Rin nodded, despite the fact that Kakashi hadn't said anything of the sort. Nikushimi grinned.

"Happy birthday Nikushimi." Tatakau drawled with a smirk on his face. Nikushimi gave him a suspicious look but he merely handed her a box. She stared at it.

"It's a present, moron." he sighed. Nikushimi grinned and took it, giving Tatakau a large thank you. Shogai also wished her a happy birthday and handed her his own present. Nikushimi placed the presents on the table as Rin handed her a box. Next Obito placed a box on the table. Moyasu added his own object a few moments later.

Nikushimi grinned at everyone and she felt overwhelmed by happiness. A few tears of joy leaked out, but she wiped them away.

Later on that night, after everyone had left, Nikushimi sat on her couch, her grin still on her face. She was still grinning at the gifts which were on the table, now unwrapped.

From Rin there was a book on various medical techniques and poisons, but mainly poisons. "It's a good strategy to coat weapons in poison, and because you use your senbon, I thought that this would be good for you." Rin had explained when Nikushimi had taken the book from the box.

From Shogai there was a set of glass figurines. Nikushimi was astonished by them, each figurine was an extremely detailed version of her friends. "My clan specializes in glass; I made these for you when I heard it was your birthday." Shogai had informed her cheerfully after coughing slightly.

Tatakau had given her a pair of earrings, surprisingly.

"Earrings?" Nikushimi had questioned him as she pulled from the small box a pair of small silver colored earrings with red stones.

"Yeah, my mom suggested them when I couldn't think of anything to give you. She said that since the three of us are a team, we should match. I was thinking that the three of us and Moyasu-sensei too, can all go and get matching earrings." Tatakau had explained.

"Because Tatakau's family is big on piercings," Shogai added, "It's special. Tatakau, Moyasu-sensei and I were debating on the color to use for the earrings. And we decided on red, because we had been thinking of you mostly at the time. It could also represent Tatakau's Sharingan, Moyasu-sensei's fire, and my clan."

"Your clan?" Nikushimi had inquired curiously. Shogai nodded.

"Yeah, my clan colors are blue and white, but the color red is also important to our clan. I'll tell you at a later date though." Shogai murmured as Moyasu stole Nikushimi's attention.

Next, Moyasu had given Nikushimi a box of things. There was a new senbon pouch, some new kunai, a book on chakra, and a key. Nikushimi had thanked him, but later on she had asked him about the key.

"It's a key to my apartment." Moyasu had explained, giving her a warm smile, "In case you ever need somewhere to stay, or you just don't want to be alone. I'm usually there at night except on Friday nights when I got out drinking with my friends." More tears of joy gathered in Nikushimi's eyes as she looked at her sensei. Moyasu ruffled her hair.

"You're my student, and I care for you a lot. Tatakau and Shogai both have their clans behind them, but you don't have your clan behind you. Now you have me." he had added. Nikushimi had given Moyasu a large smile and a heartfelt thank you.

Minato had also shown up after a while. He had briefly wished Nikushimi a happy birthday and had given her a strange kunai. He had explained it was a special kunai and she should keep it on her during missions because it could end up being quite useful. Nikushimi had nodded and thanked him.

Finally she had opened Obito's present. And she had given him a large grin.

In the box was the pair of special senbon holsters that Nikushimi had wanted.

_"I'm not going to stop trying until I do." she agreed as they passed one of the weaponry stores. Nikushimi paused for a moment as she looked in._

_"Ooh." Obito paused and looked at Nikushimi who was staring at one of the items in the window._

_"What?" he asked, looking at the window too._

_"See those senbon holsters? I've had my eyes on them forever. They're these rally cool ones that you set up with a seal in your pouch and then the holster on your hand. Then, when you use them they slid senbon out between your fingers. They're really cool." Nikushimi explained._

_"I remember awhile ago you said something about them." Obito said thoughtfully, thinking back. Nikushimi nodded, and she threw one last glance at the holsters before they continued on._

Nikushimi was slightly surprised that Obito had actually remembered that she had wanted these senbon holsters.

"Wow, they're amazing Obito!" she had squealed in amazement as she looked them over a second time. She had thought about hugging Obito, but decided against it a few seconds later.

Now, sitting on her couch, Nikushimi was looking each gift over again fondly.

"Thank you, everyone."

* * *

**AN**

**Fun Fact- In earlier chapters Nikushimi should have said something about the senbon holsters. However, she may not have and instead I may have messed up and mixed the beta version with the regular version. Either way, she was still planned to get the holsters as presents.**

**So I'm back from my vacation again! And, I made a twitter! Go follow me, there's a link on my profile. Or, my twitter is ShadowBloodNin. Go stalk me on that.**

**Sayonara!**


	24. Different From The Rest

_**Crimson Stained**_

_Chapter 24_

_Different From the Rest_

* * *

Moyasu was wary about knocking on the door. He doubted that he was going to have an easy time with Tamashi. Finally gaining the courage he needed he knocked on the door. It immediately opened. And once Moyasu's yes landed on his subject, he nearly had a nose bleed.

Moyasu looked away from the woman before him, rather interested in not getting called a pervert.

"What?" the woman asked flatly, one of her amber eyes analyzing him. The other was closed.

"Kurushimi Tamashi?" Moyasu asked. The woman nodded.

"That's me, who are you? And what do you want?" she snapped.

"Eh, do you think you could maybe… change first?" Moyasu almost begged. Tamashi looked down at herself and realized she had just gotten up and so, was still in her pajamas. These pajamas consisted of underwear and a tank top that was not covering much of her rather large chest.

"Oh, shit." Tamashi muttered, "Come in, I'll get changed." she gestured to the couch in the apartment. Moyasu took a seat as she disappeared into a room. When she closed the door, Moyasu smacked himself in the face a few times.

"Snap out of it, do not think of it!" Moyasu mumbled. He sat there for a while until he heard the door open and the woman stepped out in what he assumed was her normal clothes. Her lime green hair was brushed and now fell to her shoulders in straight strands with pink and blue streaks in it. Then she had changed from her pajamas into a shirt that cut off above her bellybutton and left her shoulders bare, but had long flowing sleeves that almost hid her arms. Then the woman had a skirt that was in many flaps and went to about her knees, however when she moved you could see the shorts underneath it. She was also now wearing an eye patch over her eye she had kept closed.

"So what do you want?" Tamashi drawled, taking a seat across from Moyasu.

"I heard that you aren't able to use chakra-" he began, but immediately stopped when her amber eye turned a few shades darker and her face took on a stony look.

"And what of it?" Tamashi all but snarled. Moyasu held his hands up in a pacifying gesture.

"I don't mean any disrespect; I actually came because I heard you're very skilled." Moyasu tried to calm her. Her stony look calmed slightly, however her eye didn't lose the angry coloring.

"And?" she butted. Moyasu sighed and looked down.

"My student is unable to access her chakra and I'm afraid she'll be behind her two teammates because of this. She says that once she unlocks her Kekkei-Genkai she'll be fine, but she's having difficulties." Moyasu explained.

"And this involves me, how?" Tamashi inquired, but she already knew she wasn't going to like his answer.

"I came here to ask that you help her because you both can't use chakra. You're an extremely talented ANBU, and she's a Genin who needs an extremely good teacher. Please teach her." Moyasu requested. Tamashi laughed.

"Hell no, I'm not going to lug around an annoying brat who just wants to impress someone. The Genin these days aren't cut out to be ninja, and with all the bad feeling going around, they're all going to die. I'm assuming you're around my age, so you grew up during the war too. I'm a harsh person, I'm not a teacher. Not to mention I despise kids." Tamashi denied, standing.

"Please-" Tamashi cut him off.

"I said no. I'm not teaching a sniveling little brat who isn't worth my time." snapped Tamashi, opening the door. Moyasu sighed and stood, but upon reaching the door, he looked at her.

"My student is different." he told her. Tamashi snorted.

"All sensei's say that, but in the end all the little brats are the same." she growled, going to close the door.

"I'm Kasai Moyasu, by the way." Moyasu called as she slammed the door. Tamashi ignored him as she stormed away from the door.

Outside, Moyasu sighed, "She has a temper. It's almost as bad as when Nikushimi is called short to her face." Moyasu slowly left the apartment, running a hand through his hair.

"Now what am I going to do? I'll have to think of something." Moyasu groaned as he decided to head to the library and look up Tamashi in the bingo book. He had to find some way to convince her.

About an hour later, Tamashi left her apartment. She was in a somewhat foul mood after the encounter that morning, but she didn't let it show. She walked through the market, intent on getting new ninja supplies. However, her mood darkened when she reached the store to find two kids bickering.

"I'm telling you, this brand is better." the dark-haired boy insisted as he pushed a box into the girl's face. The girl snorted, pushing her own box into his face in response.

"Bullshit, these bandages are the ones I always use." she retorted, using a bandaged and limp hand to gesture to herself. However the rest of her visible body was also covered in bandages.

"Nikushimi, I'm telling you, this brand is the one my mom told me is best!" he told her. Nikushimi snorted at him.

"And does your mom wear bandages every single day, Obito? I don't think so. And why are we arguing over this anyway? I really need to pick up the pace on healing my hand; I haven't done anything in days." Nikushimi huffed, throwing her box into the basket the boy was holding.

"Have you come up with anything on that?" Obito asked. Nikushimi shook her head.

"No, but starting today I'm going without sleep until I can heal my hand." Nikushimi answered, taking the basket from Obito and bringing it to the counter.

'Stupid Genin.' Tamashi thought to herself, walking over to the counter, 'Probably did something stupid to her hand.'

"I feel bad that your hand is like that, I suppose Uragiri is to blame." Obito sighed as Nikushimi pulled out her money to pay.

"I don't want to talk about her, Obito." Nikushimi stated, her tone somewhat cold. The pair were silent after that as Nikushimi finished paying and grabbed the bag of tools. She stuffed them in a scroll quickly and stored it in her pouch.

"Ready to-" Nikushimi was cut off as a sudden explosion wracked the village, sending the two kids staggering into the counter and Tamashi almost to the floor.

"What the hell was that?!" Obito exclaimed.

"There must be another attack!" Nikushimi realized as the two made to run out the door.

"You two brats," Tamashi stopped them and they looked at her with wide eyes, "You two will get more in the way than anything else. Go get to one of the civilian shelters and help them!"

"But-" Obito went to argue, but he was silenced by an urgent glare from Tamashi.

"You two will get in the way of Jounin and ANBU that are fighting the attackers, get to a shelter. Unless you two are Jounin or higher, get to the damn shelter." Tamashi ordered them before running out the door. Nikushimi and Obito shared a look.

"I'm going to go and check on Moyasu-sensei, Tatakau and Shogai. You should go check on your teammates." Nikushimi suggested.

"We're not going to listen to that Jounin?" Obito asked.

"I'm not, I'm going to go and make sure my friends are safe. Do me a favor and stay safe okay? I don't want you to… Just... promise me you won't die." Nikushimi told him.

"Alright, I promise I won't die as long as you promise the same." Obito said with a serious look. Nikushimi nodded.

"I promise." and with that, they both took off in different directions.

The village was a mess. There was various debris from the explosions and civilians were running to get to the shelters. Those who had been unfortunate and were killed from the explosions were lying on the floor. However Nikushimi ignored the bodies and pushed her way through to get to her team's training field where she hoped her team was.

Halfway to the training field she ran into Tatakau and Shogai as they were leaving to see what was going on.

"Nikushimi, what the hell is happening?" Tatakau demanded upon seeing her.

"The village is being attacked; we have to find sensei and help." Nikushimi answered quickly.

"Sensei is most likely busy, we should help the civilians." Shogai informed them.

"Alright," Nikushimi nodded, "We can do that."

"Not so fast, kiddies." The three flew around and their eyes widened. A ninja stood before them with a Kiri headband around their neck. Wavy blue hair framed the man's face and his minty eyes were narrowed on them. Nikushimi's eyes widened.

"He looks like Uragiri!" Nikushimi whispered. Tatakau and Shogai looked at each other.

"How did you kill her Nikushimi? What was her weakness?" Tatakau demanded quickly as they slowly started to shuffle back and away from the man who was pulling a sword from its sheathe.

"It was luck, I was lucky that my chakra isn't able to be sucked out or else I'd be dead too!" Nikushimi hissed, and before they could move, the man ran at them. Tatakau and Shogai jumped out of the way using their chakra, and Nikushimi ducked down, avoiding the sword as it passed over her head. She jumped up with a kunai aimed towards the man's face. Nikushimi was grabbed violently by the man and he twisted his body around to use his momentum to throw her through the wall of a building.

The pain was excruciating for Nikushimi when she tried to get up. It felt as though everything had been broken. Nikushimi couldn't find the strength to get up as she turned her head to see what was happening to Shogai and Tatakau. They were attacking.

Tatakau and Shogai coordinated their attacks. Shogai used his Kekkei-Genkai and tried to trap the man with glass that erupted from the ground and would solidify around the man to trap him. However the man jumped up to avoid the glass while Tatakau aimed a fireball at him. The man substituted and appeared next to Tatakau.

"So fast!" Tatakau cried as the man grabbed him, sucking a large portion of chakra from him, before throwing him into Shogai with even more strength than he had done to Nikushimi. Both boys flew into the wall from the strength the man had used. Then wall collapsed and they crumbled to the floor.

The pain for them was horrible. Tatakau wasn't sure if the pain he felt from that, or when his hand had been mutilated from the cliff fall the last mission, was worse.

The man approached them slowly with his sword ready. Shogai and Tatakau watched in fear as he pulled his sword back for the final strike that would end them. Their strength had been sapped, Shogai was injured from Tatakau being flung into him and Tatakau was drained of chakra. They couldn't move from the pain either.

Meanwhile, Tamashi was running down the street towards the scene having seen it. She was internally cursing the girl for not going to a civilian center like she had ordered her.

'I'm too late; I'm not going to save them.' Tamashi thought angrily as the man swung his sword down. Suddenly though the man jumped back as senbon, cloaked in a red aura flew past his face. Standing in the hole in the wall she'd been thrown in, Nikushimi stood. Her eyes glowed slightly as a red aura covered her hands.

"I won't let you hurt them!" she yelled, "My dream is to protect those I care for, no matter the cost! You'll have to kill me before getting to them!" Nikushimi ran at the man, but her speed was no match for his. In only a second he had appeared before her and grabbed her in a death grip at her throat. She clawed at his hands, desperate to get him to release her.

"You're the one who kill Uragiri." the man surmised as his harsh eyes looked Nikushimi over, "She was one of the best assassins and a stupid girl killed her."

The man launched Nikushimi into the ground, creating a small crater that was shaped like Nikushimi. Blood trailed from the edge of Nikushimi lips as she coughed slightly. Nikushimi was almost completely sure that she had broken a few ribs from both the impacts combined.

When Nikushimi didn't move again, the man headed over to finish off Tatakau and Shogai, but he stopped as something grabbed his foot. On the ground, Nikushimi was on her stomach, gripping his foot.

"I'm not dead yet, asshole." she croaked. The man allowed a smirk of amusement to pass over his face as he picked the girl up. He tugged at her chakra, only to find he couldn't.

"Your chakra is hidden." the man muttered. Nikushimi grinned as she felt for a kunai in her bag.

"That's because you and Uragiri sucked chakra from chakra systems, you need a chakra system for that. I don't have a separate chakra system for you to suck." Nikushimi muttered as her grin morphed into a smirk, "Now die!"

Nikushimi brought her kunai up and stabbed the man in his shoulder as he dropped her. She hit the ground and jumped back, senbon sliding between her fingers like claws from her new holsters. The pain almost made her falter, but adrenaline was beginning to numb her body. The red aura filtered around the senbon and then traveled down her body to her feet. She ran at the man, now faster.

'Is that chakra Nikushimi is using?' Shogai wondered as he watched the fight, 'Could Nikushimi be unknowingly using it?'

"Ey, Shogai, do you think that you could use your glass to trip the guy?" Tatakau asked, his voice hoarse as he fought to stay conscious.

"I can try." Shogai replied quietly as a violet cough wracked through his body. When he stopped he slowly made a few hand signs nd seconds later, glass erupted in the middle of Nikushimi and the man's fight. The glass wrapped around the man's foot and locked him into place. Nikushimi wasted no time in aiming for the kill. However the man used his other leg to trip Nikushimi up. As she fell the man grabbed her throat and he twisted around, using his momentum to throw her. Nikushimi flew into another building, but this time she didn't get back up.

But she didn't have to.

Tamashi reached the scene and quickly engaged in a fight with the man. She pulled her two swords from their place on her hips and she brought them down onto the man. He parried with his sword. The two broke apart and skidded back. Tamashi scowled.

'This man… he has such perfect chakra control he can use it to give himself insane strength much Tsunade of the three Sannin. This is going to be difficult for me.' Her eyes flashed a dangerous darker shade as she ran at the man. They met once again and their swords locked together. However Tamashi couldn't hold the man's sword from the sheer strength he had. Tamashi jumped back and immediately ran forward, swiping at his head. He ducked backwards and brought his leg up to kick Tamashi. Tamashi dodged and brought her swords back down on him, only for them to end up fighting against each others swords again.

Suddenly, the man's eyes widened and he jumped back, avoiding four well-aimed senbon that were cloaked in a red aura. Nikushimi stood, her arms extended, in the hole in the wall. Her eyes narrowed at the man as she grabbed a kunai from her bag.

"Shogai, Tatakau, you guys get out of here if you can't fight." she called to her teammates who were leaning on each other as they tried to stand. Tatakau nodded as Shogai's body quivered as his coughs started again.

Sensing their weakness, the man headed for them. But Nikushimi stopped him with a well-aimed kunai that would have pierced through his head, had he not stopped the second before.

"You're dead." Nikushimi snarled as she took out senbon to replace the kunai she had just thrown.

"Brat, get out of here!" Tamashi yelled, "You're going to get in the way." Nikushimi didn't spare Tamashi a glance.

"We have a better chance together; he's strong." Nikushimi responded before she ran towards the man. His lips curled back into a dark smirk as he swung his sword towards her. Nikushimi ducked under the blade, it barely missing her head, and she swung at the man's stomach. He jumped back before Nikushimi was close though.

'As I thought, he's more skilled than anyone I've ever faced. He's learned to not underestimate me, I suppose. I've killed all my other enemies with pure luck on my part and stupidity on their part. And this is the first Jounin level man I'm facing, the others were only around Chunin or so.' Nikushimi thought as she analyzed the situation, 'He also has speed, strength and years on me. Not to mention chakra.'

"Quick brat, distract him!" Tamashi yelled to Nikushimi. Nikushimi did as she was told, running back at the man with a kunai. The man swung his sword and Nikushimi tried to stop it with her kunai, but the man's strength was greater than Nikushimi's and she was flung back. She launched her kunai as him as she flew through the air. She spun around in midair, launching a few senbon barrages at the man before she hit the wall. She used her feet to rebound off the wall and fly at the man, pulling out a kunai.

As Nikushimi did this, Tamashi slowly circled the man, waiting for him to be completely focused on Nikushimi. When she clashed with him from her rebound, this happened. Tamashi, while waiting for her opening had shed her training weights. The heavy weights that had been around her ankles and wrists were now thrown on the ground, and Tamashi was much faster.

With much more speed Tamashi ran at the man. Her sword sliced into the man's arm. He yelled and in blind rage turned and hit Tamashi with the blunt end of his sword. She was sent flying back; however she landed on her feet easily. Nikushimi took this as an opening and ran at the man again. However he was ready for her.

The man grabbed Nikushimi by her throat and brought his sword to her throat, using his injured arm to hold her in place. Nikushimi and Tamashi's eyes widened. Shogai and Tatakau, who were now taking cover behind a large piece of debris, were eerily reminded of when Moyasu had done something similar on their first day.

_"You two, your teammate is a hostage, what do you do?" called Moyasu as he held Nikushimi. Shogai and Tatakau looked at each other._

_"You wouldn't really kill Nikushimi though, so we can just go after you." pointed out Shogai. Moyasu brought the kunai into Nikushimi's neck so that a drop of crimson liquid dripped down from her bandages that concealed her neck._

_"I wouldn't?" Moyasu grinned. Shogai and Tatakau both watched, Shogai frozen in place. Tatakau's face was expressionless, not showing how he felt._

_"C'mon, as ninja you should know what to do. Do you let your comrade die, kill the one holding them hostage, and then as a result have them die? Or maybe give in to save your comrade, and fail the mission? What do you do? Hm?"_

Back then, the situation had been fake. Moyasu couldn't have killed Nikushimi. However, now that the situation was real, Shogai and Tatakau felt their hearts beating faster.

"What's that woman going to do?" Tatakau whispered to Shogai, "She doesn't care about Nikushimi like we do!"

"She wouldn't just let Nikushimi die like that." Shogai hoped.

Meanwhile, Tamashi stood in place. None of the three moved. Tamashi's eyes flitted between Nikushimi and the man. Nikushimi's eyes were wide, however Tamashi could see a fire burning beneath them. Meanwhile, the man's eyes showed triumph, that he had won by this move.

Suddenly Nikushimi moved. Her good hand grabbed the sword and it sliced into her hand. However the red aura that had been on her senbon slid up the sword and the man yelled as it reached his hand. He pushed the sword and Nikushimi away from him, throwing them. But with this distraction, Tamashi had moved. She quickly slid her sword into his chest, just above his heart.

"There's an artery there. You're going to be dead in a minute or so." Tamashi informed the man calmly as blood bubbled from his mouth and chest. Tamashi pulled her sword back out and sheathed it, not caring that it was bloody. The man fell to his knees before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body lurched forward onto the ground.

"Good job brat. Didn't think any of you brats could handle yourselves." Tamashi called, turning around. However the sight that greeted her almost made her heart stop.

Nikushimi stood, her good hand pressed to her throat which had a large slice on it. The sword had sliced it when she had been thrown. However, when she had landed the sword had pierced her stomach and was now impaling her.

Tamashi quickly ran over and knelt next to Nikushimi, looking over her wounds critically.

"We need to get you to the hospital." Tamashi growled. Nikushimi let out a low chuckle, blood dribbling from the side of her mouth.

"Don't worry about me, I've gotten worse." she told Tamashi, "Nothing important was severed. It's a somewhat shallow cut on my throat, and nothing that will kill me was hit by the sword. Just pull the sword out and I can heal myself."

"Bullshit-" Tamashi began, however she stopped when there was a flash of yellow. She looked to find a blonde haired Jounin next to her.

"Nikushimi, stop giving her a heart attack." Minato ordered Nikushimi. Nikushimi shook her head, a slight grin on her face.

"I would, but healing would be pointless if the damn sword is still in my gut!" Nikushimi huffed, slightly amused by the whole situation. Normally the pain would have made her more serious, but at the moment her body was numb. Nikushimi wasn't sure if this was good or bad, but she assumed a good thing.

Tamashi watched as Minato pulled the sword from Nikushimi and threw it to the side. Blood began to pour out, staining the bandages that covered Nikushimi's abdomen. However the girl merely looked at it before the red aura covering her hand wrapped around her throat.

"The hell?" murmured Nikushimi as the red aura moved around. Her throat was healed in a few moments and then Nikushimi reached down to her abdomen where the red aura wrapped around the sword wound.

"Interesting…" Nikushimi whispered as the wound stitched itself together. Tamashi watched, slightly fascinated by the process. Minato looked at her.

"How are things in this sector of the village, the attack is mostly over. I'm doing checks for the Hokage." Minato questioned seriously.

"This guy is the only one I fought over here, but it sounds quiet." Tamashi reported. Minato nodded and looked at Nikushimi who was unwrapping her bad hand.

"Nikushimi, go head to the hospital to get yourself checked out just in case you missed something. And if you're curious, Obito and Rin are fine. They helped evacuate civilians." Minato informed her. Nikushimi merely nodded, engrossed in her hand as the red aura covered it.

With a nod at Tamashi Minato jumped away. Tatakau and Shogai slowly made their way over to where Tamashi was wondering if she should interrupt Nikushimi from what she was doing to her hand.

"We should head to the hospital now, you can do that later." Tatakau drawled. Nikushimi nodded and stood, however her legs gave out on her and a cry of surprise left her.

"The adrenaline was keeping me going." Nikushimi muttered. Tamashi lifted Nikushimi up with a sigh. The four then headed towards the hospital. Tatakau focused on keeping Shogai walking though. Shogai was breathing heavily and wheezing, coughing often and hoarsely.

"You were pretty good for a brat." Tamashi admitted to Nikushimi as they walked, "Even though you ignored me and put yourself at risk." Nikushimi gave Tamashi a grin, however her eyes showed seriousness.

"My dream is to protect those that I care for, no matter what the cost is." Nikushimi informed Tamashi. Nikushimi gestured to Tatakau and Shogai, "And I care for my teammates, even though Tatakau is an asshole a lot." Tatakau shot Nikushimi a short glare upon hearing her.

"I can't tell you if you're just a dumb little brat, or if you're a good ninja for saying that." Tamashi sighed.

"I don't care which one I am. I will do anything to keep those I care for safe. I've almost died protecting my friends more than once, this won't be the first and it will not be the last." Nikushimi muttered.

"Hey Nikushimi?" Shogai coughed.

"Hm?" Nikushimi looked at him. It took about a minute of coughing before Shogai could speak again.

"When, we get to the hospital. Tell Moyasu-sensei to tell my mom to bring me the clan's special medicines." Shogai started to violently cough when he finished.

"Kasai Moyasu?" Tamashi questioned in shock.

"I'll do that if sensei is there." Nikushimi told Shogai before she looked to Tamashi, "And yeah. That's our sensei."

"Flaming hair? Fiery eyes?" Tamashi added. Nikushimi nodded in response. But they reached the hospital, so Tamashi handed Nikushimi off to one of the doctors and watched as they carried her to the waiting room where they placed her on one of the chairs. Shogai and Tatakau were taken inside to be looked at.

"Different?" Tamashi jumped as she turned to find a familiar fiery haired man behind her.

"What?" Tamashi sputtered. Moyasu nodded towards Nikushimi in the waiting room, which was slowly having more and more patients. The more critical ones were being admitted first.

"Different, isn't she?" Moyasu asked. Tamashi nodded slowly.

"I'll admit, she's different than some of the Genin I've seen in the past few years." Tamashi muttered.

"Nikushimi is strong willed, did you see that fire in her eyes? Her determination?" Moyasu added. Tamashi nodded.

"I saw the fire in her eyes. You said she couldn't use chakra, yet she could heal herself. How?" wondered Tamashi, looking at Moyasu. Moyasu shrugged.

"I'm not quite sure myself, it's contradictory really. She can't do Jutsu, she can't wall walk or water walk, yet she can heal deadly wounds. It's because of her Kekkei-Genkai. She's a Ketsueki, the last of her clan. Supposedly, her clan has a great Kekkei-Genkai that has to be unlocked before she can use her chakra, but I'm not sure how long that will take and her two teammates, an Uchiha and a Garasu, are already able to wall walk and water walk." Moyasu explained. Tamashi nodded in response.

"I see, and you want me to teach her because I can't use chakra but I've been able to train myself to be able to match someone with chakra." Tamashi muttered.

"Yes. Will you train her?" Moyasu requested. Tamashi nodded.

"Yes, I'll be her master." Tamashi agreed. Moyasu grinned and they both looked to Nikushimi, who slowly had a large grin going across her face as the red aura around her hand disappeared.

"I did it!" they could hear her yell as she jumped up, not caring that everyone in the waiting room was looking at her, "I healed my hand! I have two hands again!"

Outside, Moyasu laughed at the sight. Tamashi just shook her head, a slight grin sliding onto her face too.

"Oh, I doubt Nikushimi remembers now, but one of your students asked her to get you to get him medicine or herbs or something from his clan." Tamashi remembered, looking to Moyasu. Moyasu nodded.

"Those are important, I shoud get them now-" Moyasu was suddenly interrupted by an urgent voice.

"Moyasu." Moyasu turned when he heard his name to find Chimu behind him. His head had a bandage around it, but he looked fine other than the injury and the various tears on his clothes. Moyasu's jovial mood instantly disappeared when he noticed the grave look on Chimu's face.

"I've been tasked with spreading the news to the other Jounin who are active at the time." Chimu began before closing his eyes.

"What's wrong?" demanded Moyasu. Chimu looked at Moyasu.

"War is about to start. This attack was brought on by Kiri, and it is an act of war. Prepare for a Third Great War."

* * *

**AN**

**And so, thus begins the Third Great War.**

**Fun Fact- Tamashi hates Genin and tends to stay away from them.**

**Anyway, so Tamashi is going to be Nikushimi's master, so now Nikushimi has her sensei, and her shisho (Is this right? Because doesn't Sakura call Tsunade shisho?)**

**And check out my ShadowBloodNinja instagram too! And my YouTube! There's a link to both in my profile!**

**Anyway, bye!**


	25. An Interesting Day

**_Crimson Stained_**

_Chapter 25_

_An Interesting Day_

* * *

"You three, I have very bad news…" Moyasu began, looking down at his three students. All three were worn out from helping around the village to rebuild the various places that had been destroyed in the attack a few days earlier.

"Can I soften the bad news with good news?" Nikushimi questioned. Moyasu felt his tense mood lighten a bit at Nikushimi's question.

"Go ahead." Moyasu nodded. Nikushimi grinned.

"I finally healed my hand! Although, it's not the prettiest hand in the world… it's completely healed though." Nikushimi announced, unwrapping her usual bandages from her once injured hand to show it to everyone. Nikushimi had not been lying when she said that her hand wasn't very pretty. Her hand was covered in viscous burn scars, giving the hand a grotesque appearance.

"That's good Nikushimi, I'm glad your hand is healed." Shogai whispered. He had been in the hospital for a day longer than Tatakau, but now he was fine. His throat was just raw. As it had turned out, the smoke from the various explosions and then him being thrown around had made things difficult on his throat and lungs, making his coughs more violent than usual.

"Did the medicine I had your mother give you help?" Moyasu asked Shogai. Shogai nodded.

"Yes, but I have to stay quiet for a few more days so that I don't cough and ruin the healing done on my throat and lungs." Shogai replied quietly. Moyasu nodded.

"Alright, now, any more good news? Or should I get to the bad news?" Moyasu asked, looking at all the students. When no one replied, Moyasu sighed.

"The attack was a sign of war. But all the nations are already at each other's throats, and war was declared. This is marking the start of another great war." Moyasu explained gravely. All three students looked at each other with widened eyes.

"War…" Tatakau muttered.

"It was feared it would come to this." Shogai agreed, somberly.

"Sensei, what's war like?" Tatakau suddenly questioned.

"It's… brutal. I… You guys won't be on the battlefield for the most part. You could still be sent on dangerous missions though. I'm going to be training you guys harder than usual, starting tomorrow. Today, I think we should just take it easy." admitted Moyasu.

"…War brings a lot of death." Nikushimi finally whispered. All attention suddenly turned to her. She looked up, a shadow covering her eyes.

"It does, but I'm your sensei. So you don't have to worry, I'll protect you Nikushimi. And you two also." Moyasu said, trying to comfort Nikushimi. Nikushimi clenched her fists.

"My dream is to protect everyone I care for. And war is a time of death. I will protect you guys. And Obito, and Rin. You don't have to worry about me, Moyasu-sensei." Nikushimi announced, determination burned in her eyes.

"I believe you, Nikushimi. But I'm going to protect you guys too." Moyasu ruffled Nikushimi's hair, much to her chagrin, "Now like I said, let's relax today. How about the hot springs?"

"It would be nice." Shogai agreed, Tatakau nodding beside him. Nikushimi frowned.

"But I would be in the womans bath. How about you three go, and I go find Obito and get him back on his senbon training with me since I haven't been able to teach him with a bad hand." Nikushimi suggested.

"It's a group bonding activity, just sit next to the fence in the woman's bath." Moyasu chirped.

"Eh, sensei, can I please go train with Obito? Please?" Nikushimi almost begged.

"Nope." Moyasu grinned, enjoying the torment on his only female student, "You have to come with us."

"But…" Nikushimi shuffled her feet and nodded.

"Great! Let's go!" Moyasu cheered and he led his three Genin towards the hot springs.

"You don't seem too happy about the hot springs, Nikushimi." Shogai murmured to Nikushimi. Nikushimi looked at her arms.

"I'm not comfortable around even my friends without these bandages, and don't I have to take them off to go in the hot spring?" Nikushimi replied, tugging at the bandage around her arm that was slipping.

"Why do you wear those bandages anyway?" Tatakau suddenly butted into their conversation. Nikushimi looked down at her feet.

"I'm not comfortable without them." she answered vaguely.

"What could you be hiding?" Tatakau questioned. Nikushimi frowned.

"Just drop it, Tatakau. Okay?" Nikushimi snapped. Tatakau went to retort, but a look from Shogai made him nod. The two boys hung back so that Nikushimi walked in front of them next to Moyasu.

"She's a very bold person normally." Shogai muttered to Tatakau.

"So why is she so worried about those bandages coming off? Why is she so insecure about it?" wondered Tatakau. Now, both boys had their interest piqued at Nikushimi's bandages. And what better time to find out what she hid under them, than at the hot springs?

Upon arriving, Nikushimi split from the boys and made her way into the female changing room. A few civilians were in the hot spring, and Nikushimi stood there awkwardly, looking around. Finally, she stripped herself of her tank top and shorts. Then she pulled off her underwear, leaving her covered in bandages.

Nikushimi stood there for what seemed like forever to her, debating on how to get out of the situation.

'I could make a run for it… but sensei might come and get me when they realize I'm not here…' Nikushimi thought. Finally, she grabbed a towel, pulled all her hair into a bun, and slowly entered the hot springs.

Sitting around in the hot springs gossiping were women, all gossiping with each other. Nikushimi slowly shuffled around the spring to the side that was up against the fence that separated the male bath from the female bath. She looked at the water, before looking at her bandages.

"You're not really going in like that, are you?" she heard a woman ask. Nikushimi blushed slightly, and she hugged her towel to her.

'Think of an excuse! Lie!' Nikushimi automatically thought.

"I recently had an injury, and I shouldn't remove the bandages. But the hot springs are good for the injury." Nikushimi lied smoothly. The woman who asked looked like she believed Nikushimi and turned back to her friends. Nikushimi breathed a sigh in relief and slowly touched the water with the tip of her toe. Then, deciding the warm water felt nice, she slowly slid into the bath.

"Bonding my ass." Nikushimi muttered to herself a few minutes later as she eyed the wall behind her, "I could leave and they wouldn't know until they got out." But the water did feel nice; Nikushimi was willing to admit, so she wasn't going to leave.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wall, Tatakau, Moyasu and Shogai sat in the water, thoroughly enjoying the hot springs.

"This feels great sensei!" Tatakau announced, turning to look at his sensei. Then, he felt himself resist the urge to facepalm.

"What the hell are you doing, sensei?" demanded Tatakau upon noticing his sensei, head to the wall peering through a hole.

"Are you a pervert, sensei?" Shogai questioned simply.

"No, I'm spying on Nikushimi." he retorted.

"So you're a pedophile instead." Tatakau concluded, Shogai nodding in agreement.

"No, I am not. I'm curious about the bandages, just as much as you two are." Moyasu huffed; too busy spying through the hole to really care about what his two students were saying. Tatakau and Shogai both looked at each other in realization.

"Sensei, you're a genius!" Tatakau stated, and both he and Shogai looked through the fence through holes they could find. Then all three found their eyes trained on Nikushimi.

Nikushimi sat in the water submerged to her chin as her strange red eyes watched everything around her carefully. Her long black, red and silver hair had been tied up in a bun.

"Can you see?" Shogai asked Tatakau, frowning because he couldn't see because of his glasses.

"No, she's in up to her chin." Tatakau huffed.

"Nikushimi is twelve, I wonder how her body is developing?" Moyasu wondered aloud. Tatakau and Shogai both threw their sensei irritated looks.

"Sensei! Stop being a pervert!" Tatakau almost yelled. However he kept his tone down so that the girls on the other side couldn't hear him.

"It's an honest question!" Moyasu defended himself, "I mean, look at the other women in there!"

"Pervert-sensei." huffed Tatakau, turning away from the wall.

"I am not a pervert! I am merely an observer and a curious person!" Moyasu argued, looking away from the peep-hole to glare at Tatakau.

"Pervert-sensei." Tatakau and Shogai both stated simultaneously.

"Like hell." retorted Moyasu, leaning against the fence. This was a bad idea. The weight from Moyasu, plus the weight of his two students, was too much for the fence. The fence fell over and Moyasu, plus the two Genin with him, both fell into the woman's bath where all the women screamed. Moyasu, Tatakau, and Shogai looked up when a shadow passed over them. Standing before them was Nikushimi, in her soaked bandages.

"Perverts." she accused them flatly.

"It's him who's the pervert!" Tatakau blamed Moyasu while pointing a finger at him.

"Like hell!" Moyasu repeated.

"You three are idiots." Nikushimi informed them before exiting the bath and entering the change room. Moyasu, Shogai and Tatakau shared a look.

"Damn, she's still wearing the bandages." Tatakau growled.

"Won't she change them when she goes inside so she doesn't have soaked bandages all day?" Shogai suggested. Moyasu grinned at Shogai.

"Great idea! We need to peek into the woman's changing room!" Moyasu announced, standing up and fixing the towel around his waist.

"You're going to be caught, Pervert-sensei." Tatakau informed Moyasu as he entered the hot spring building, sneaking through to the woman's area. Tatakau and Shogai followed behind him.

Inside, Nikushimi was having issues. She looked between the new roll of bandages and her soaking wet body.

'But all the women here will see if I change them here.' Nikushimi thought, biting her lip.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing!" Nikushimi suddenly heard before she was face to face with a middle-aged woman with bright red hair and a round face.

"Oh Nikushimi!" Nikushimi turned to see Uchiha Mikoto, Obito's aunt, smiling at her as she finished dressing.

"Oh? You know her Mikoto?" the red haired woman asked, looking down at Nikushimi.

"She's a friend of Obito's, Kushina." Mikoto informed her. The red haired woman's eyes suddenly sparkled.

"You're the girl Obito had me make a cake for!" Kushina realized before her smile widened.

"I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi." Nikushimi greeted her.

"I'm Namikaze Kushina. I'm Obito's sensei's wife." Kushina told Nikushimi cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you." Nikushimi replied brightly.

"What are you doing here by yourself Nikushimi? Usually someone brings a friend to chat with." Mikoto wondered. Nikushimi gave her a sheepish look.

"Um, I don't actually have any girl friends. And my teammates kind of made me, but Moyasu-sensei, Tatakau and Shogai are guys… so they were on the other side." Nikushimi explained.

"Moyasu?" Kushina repeated, before her eyes narrowed dangerously, "That pervert who's always peeping on the women's bath?"

"Yes." Nikushimi nodded, quite sure that Kushina was describing her sensei.

"Nikushimi, I'm curious. Why did you go in the bath with your bandages on?" questioned Mikoto. Nikushimi looked down at herself.

"I'm not comfortable even around my friends without my bandages with my clothes on, never mind a public bath." Nikushimi answered, looking down at her bandaged arms.

"I see. Well, there's a bathroom here you can change your bandages in." Mikoto suggested, pointing over to the door. Nikushimi smiled at her and hurried over to the door.

"She's so adorable." Kushina remarked to Mikoto. Mikoto smiled and nodded at her friend.

"She is, and from what I've heard, she's very determined." Mikoto added. As the two gossiped, Shogai, Moyasu and Tatakau made their move.

"This is a horrible idea, sensei." Shogai muttered as they entered the girls changing room, henged into girls. Moyasu grinned down at his student.

"It'll be fine." he admonished.

"Shogai is right." grumbled Tatakau, folding his arms across his chest, glaring down at himself and not liking the changes the henge gave him.

The three entered the changing room looking unsuspicious, that is until Kushina saw them. Her eyes narrowed in on Moyasu, having seen this trick from him before.

"Moyasu you pervert!" Kushina screeched, and Moyasu turned and paled upon seeing her.

'Oh, this is bad. Kushina just had to be here today!' Moyasu thought as Kushina dove towards him, driving her fist into his face. Moyasu was knocked out of his henge and onto the floor from the power the red-haired woman's punch had held.

"Sensei!" The two boys chorused, only watching as the red-haired woman continued to injure and yell at their sensei while he was down.

"Moyasu-sensei?" they heard and they turned to see Nikushimi in new, dry bandages and her clothes.

"Eh, Nikushimi, can you maybe… help me? Please?" Moyasu begged. Nikushimi was silent for a moment, before a grin came over her face.

'Revenge for making me come.' Nikushimi decided.

"Pervert-sensei." she stated as her grin turned to a smirk, before looking to Tatakau and Shogai, "You two are perverts too." The two boys removed their henges and quickly left the room before Kushina could beat them up. Then Nikushimi left, not caring that her sensei was being mauled by Kushina.

After leaving the hot springs, Nikushimi headed to the training field she and Obito shared. Shortly after arrived, Obito arrived. Nikushimi was glad that she had been just on time, even though Obito was late. It would have been embarrassing for her to get there after Obito.

"It feels like forever since we've trained with senbon." commented Obito. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah, I'll have to go over everything with you again if you don't remember. What were you doing?" questioned Nikushimi.

"I think I… I don't remember. So much has happened I haven't really thought about it." admitted Obito. Nikushimi nodded. A lot had happened since they had last practiced.

"Well, let's start you with throwing senbon from that log. Because I do think that you were taught how to throw them. Now throw them from that log." she ordered, pointing to the log he had first learned to balance on.

"I remember that log!" Obito announced, hoping onto it as Nikushimi handed him her senbon pouch. About a minute later, he threw a senbon at the bulls eye that Nikushimi had set up. He promptly fell off the log from the force him throwing the senbon had caused.

"…I also remember I hated this log."

Nikushimi didn't know why, but she laughed so hard it hurt.

When Nikushimi's training with Obito ended, she wasn't sure what she was going to do. Obito left because he had training with his team he was late for. Nikushimi sat at the training grounds, wondering what to do, when there was a fiery flash before her and her sensei appeared with a large grin on his face.

"Sensei?" Nikushimi questioned. Her sensei had a bandage around his head, most likely from where Kushina had beaten him.

"I forgot to mention this morning from all the excitement, but I got you someone to train you specially." Moyasu explained, holding a hand to the side of his head.

"Specially?" Nikushimi repeated, confused.

"I got someone who is a great ninja, but also can't use chakra. So I figured that she could help you." Moyasu elaborated.

"Really?" Nikushimi asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet her in… it's almost time to meet her!" Moyasu exclaimed looking at the sun to calculate the time, "Where did my day go?"

"The hospital maybe?" Nikushimi suggested. Moyasu gave his student a look.

"You could have helped me, you know." he deadpanned.

"It's your fault for being a pervert, sensei." huffed Nikushimi.

"Tatakau and Shogai were just as bad as me." Moyasu defended himself as they started towards the village. However the place they were meeting Nikushimi's new mentor was not a place Nikushimi wanted to be in.

"I can't go in." Nikushimi admitted to Moyasu, stopping in front of Randebu. Moyasu looked back at his student.

"Why not?" inquired Moyasu. Nikushimi shook her head.

"Akane was killed in there, and I didn't do anything to stop it. I can't face it." Nikushimi whispered. The friendly look of the café didn't look so friendly to Nikushimi anymore. All she could see now was a dreadful place full of death.

"You'll have to get over that fear, as a ninja you'll have to face death." Moyasu advised Nikushimi. Nikushimi shook her head.

"I don't mind facing death but, I want to protect those I care for! And I failed by Akane dying!" Nikushimi cried. A few people in the street paused to watch the spectacle, but one heated glare from Moyasu would send them on their way.

"You can't let Akane's death get you down. Besides, she died a painless death and you managed to stop Uragiri before anyone else was killed and you saved Obito." Moyasu reminded her.

"But, Akane died. I just stood there, I couldn't do anything! Don't you care she died? Didn't you like her sensei?" Nikushimi looked up at Moyasu. Moyasu ruffled her hair, giving her a small, sad smile.

"I did, I liked her. But I can move on, and so can you." Nikushimi was silent for a few minutes, before she started towards the door.

"This _is _my favorite place to eat." she murmured humorously, opening the door. Moyasu followed her in and Nikushimi's eyes landed on the new waitress, a busty blonde woman whose eyes were running over a magazine.

Moyasu and Nikushimi took a seat over in the corner. The waitress ignored them, and they sat in silence. About five or so minutes of silence later, the door opened and Tamashi entered. Upon seeing Moyasu and Nikushimi, she walked over to them. She sat down and looked between them.

"What's with the atmosphere?" she asked, shattering the silence while eyeing Moyasu's bandaged head with an amused look, "And what happened to your head?"

"It's nothing, so Tamashi, you're going to train Nikushimi right?" Moyasu responded, changing the topic. Tamashi looked to Nikushimi.

"Well, I can't really say I like kids that much. But, you seem like you're a decent kid. I'll train you as long as you can promise me a few things." Tamashi drawled.

"What are they?" questioned Nikushimi, looking at Tamashi curiously.

"One, you listen to me. No matter what. If I say something, I say it for a reason. We're entering a time of war, and I'll be damned if you get killed on my watch for doing something stupid. Two, don't be a little brat like all the other Genin. I don't give a shit about boys your age, I don't care about your clothes, complain about anything like that and I'm not going to be pleased. And three…" Tamashi explained harshly before pausing.

"And three?" Nikushimi inquired.

"You said that your dream was to protect your comrades, and you said you were willing to die for your comrades… Your dream is a good dream, promise me that you'll train for that dream and try your hardest to succeed that dream." Tamashi ordered. Nikushimi nodded.

"I promise," Nikushimi agreed, "But not because it's a condition for you to train me. I promise to protect those I care for, because I want to. Because I will, no matter what." Tamashi and Nikushimi stared at each other intently, and Moyasu stayed out of the conversation, eyeing the busty blonde waitress who had yet to come over and ask them what they wanted to order.

"Looks like I will be able to stand you after all, brat." Tamashi grinned. Nikushimi frowned, not pleased at the nickname.

"Brat?" she huffed.

"Brat isn't a good nickname for her, she's too nice to be a brat. Squirt is a better name because she's short." Moyasu argued lightly.

"I don't like either very much." Nikushimi muttered.

"Shush brat, Moyasu is about to get his ass kicked in an argument." Tamashi shushed Nikushimi before looking at Moyasu, "Like hell. All kids are brats."

"And your proof? Nikushimi is too nice to be a brat, brats are little assholes. Nikushimi can be mean at times, and she likes to scream back and forth with Tatakau, but she can be an angel at other times." Moyasu snorted.

"All kids are brats. Have you seen all the Genin these days?"Tamashi huffed.

"I have a Genin team, and the only student who could be a potential brat is Tatakau, but that's because he's an Uchiha and it's in their blood." Moyasu dismissed.

"Like hell." Tamashi growled. Meanwhile, Nikushimi toned the argument out, looking out the window.

This sure was going to be interesting, wasn't it?

* * *

**AN**

**So, Tamashi and Moyasu… fun people.**

**Fun Fact- Moyasu is a bit of a pervert, he's not afraid to announce his thoughts either. Even in a fight he'll announce his thoughts on the female he is facing.**

**I myself liked some of the chapter, but got lazy at some points. I should be doing AP homework now… buuuuuut, procrastination is my life. Also, check out my YouTube! I've got one video on there as of now... Link is on my profile.**

**Sayonara!**


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